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Three-mile Island March 28, 1979 Middletown, PA The most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history (but no deaths or injuries)
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Energy-related Environmental Disasters
Three-mile Island March 28, 1979 Middletown, PA The most serious accident in U.S. commercial
nuclear power plant operating history (but no deaths or injuries)
Three-mile Island: 1/2 meltdown
Three-mile Island Led to changes in emergency response planning,
reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and other areas of nuclear power plant operations
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission had to tighten and heighten its regulatory oversight
Chornobyl April 26, 1986 During a test of the
system, safety mechanisms were turned off
The cooling system was mistakenly turned off as well
This led to a complete meltdown and explosion
Oil spills
Exxon Valdez March 24, 1989
tanker ran aground 11 million gallons
spilled in Prince William Sound
1,990 miles of coastline affected
Exxon Valdez Some numbers: 2800
otters, 300+ harbor seals, 250,000 seabirds, 250 bald eagles killed
Mass mortalities of macroalgae and invertebrates
Long-term effects on fish populations…Why?
Deep Water Horizon spill
Remember the cause(s)? 4.9 million barrels (2.1 x
109 gallons) Leaked for 12 weeks BP recovered ¼
Buzzards Bay 1969 Oil barge Florida
ran aground 200,000 gallons of fuel
spilled MANY fishes and
invertebrates were killed
Still found in marsh sediments today, still affecting wildlife
Kuwait War Deliberate dumping
of oil by the Iraqi army into the Persian Gulf during the Kuwait war (1991)
6 million barrels (2.52 x 108 gallons)
101 sq. mile oil slick
Oil Pollution Act 1990 Requires strict safety measures for
tankers and storage facilities Requires contingency plans in the event
of a spill Requires contributions to a trust fund to
cover oil spill costs