ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS

TVA Kingston Fossil Plant Coal Fly Ash Slurry Spill

In an 84 acre solid waste containment area, an ash dike ruptured in

the early hours of December 22, 2008. This fossil plant in Roane County,

Tennessee held 1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry which was expelled

causing a mudflow wave. Although there were no reported fatalities or injuries

it damaged several properties and government facilities.

THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL

On March 24, 1989, 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled

in Prince William Sounds, Alaska by the oil tanker Exxon Valdez after it

ran into Bligh Reef. It is considered to be one of the most devastating

human caused environmental disasters with both the long-term and

short-term effects of the oil spill having been studied. Immediate effects

included the deaths of 100,000 to as many as 250,000 seabirds, at

least 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbour seals, 247 Bald Eagles, and

22 Orcas, and an unknown number of salmon and herring.

PACIFIC GYRE GARBAGE PATCH

Another example of the negative effects of human waste; the

Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch  is a gyre of marine debris in the central

North Pacific Ocean.  This patch which is characterized by high

concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge and other debris 

formed gradually as a result of the marine pollution gathered

by oceanic currents.

JILIN CHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSIONS

The Jilin chemical plant explosions were a series of explosions

which occurred on November 13, 2005 in the No.101 Petro chemical

plant in Jilin City, Jilin Province, China. These explosions were

responsible for the deaths of six workers and injured dozens

causing the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.  

To add insult to injury, these explosions severely polluted the

Songhua River with an estimated 100 tons of pollutants containing

benzene and nitrobenzene whose exposure reduces white blood cell 

count and is linked to leukemia.

CASTLE BRAVO

The code name Castle Bravo was given to the first United States

test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb. The bomb was 

detonated on Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954, as

the first test of Operation Castle and was the most powerful nuclear

device ever detonated by the United States at that time. This test lead to 

the most significant accidental radiological contamination ever

caused by the United States.

THE THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR EXPLOSION

The three mile island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown 

which occurred in one of the two United States nuclear reactors on

March 28, 1979 .  Located on the three mile island in Dauphin County,

Pennsylvania;  it was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear

power plant history with the partial meltdown resulting in the release

of small amounts of radioactive gases and radioactive iodine 

into the environment.

THE KUWAIT OIL FIRES

Around 6 million barrels of oil were lost from January to November,

1991. 600 oil wells were set afire as part of the scorched earth policy by

the retreating Iraqi military forces. $1.5 billion was spent by Kuwait to

extinguish the fires that caused heavy pollution to the soil and air.

“DOOR TO HELL”

In Derweze, Turkmenistan, a drilling rig made by Soviet geologists in

1971 gave way to a large hole measuring 70 meters in diameter,

exposing a large methane gas reservoir. Fearing the environmental

impact due to the substantial methane gas release; the geologists

decided to burn it off.  Unfortunately, the gas is still burning today.

THE PALOMARES INCIDENT

The crash of the B-52G bomber of the USAF Strategic Air Command

on January 17, 1966 led to the plutonium contamination of Palomares,

a small village in the municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería,

Spain. The jet powered strategic bomber carried non-nuclear explosives

that detonated causing political conflict between the US and Spain.

40 odd years later, traces of the blasts are still evident.