Nuclear accidents in the World

                               

Nuclear accidents in the World

How many nuclear power plants have had accidents and incidents?

           We identified 33 serious incidents and accidents at nuclear power stations since the first recorded one in 1952 at Chalk River in Ontario, Canada.

            The information is partially from the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) – which, astonishingly, fails to keep a complete historical database – and partially from reports. Of those we have identified, six happened in the US and five in Japan. The UK and Russia have had three apiece.

           

Japan Nuclear Accidents

Year	2011
Incident Place	Fukushima
Country	Japan
IAEA Description	Reactor shutdown after the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami; failure of emergency cooling caused an explosion.

Year	2011
Incident Place	Onagawa
Country	Japan
IAEA Description	Reactor shutdown after the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami caused a fire.

Year	1999
Incident Place	Tokaimura
Country	Japan
IAEA Description	Fatal overexposures of workers following a criticality event at a nuclear facility.

Year	1999
Incident Place	Ishikawa
Country	Japan
IAEA Description	Control rod malfunction

Year	1981
Incident Place	Tsuraga
Country	Japan
IAEA Description	More than 100 workers were exposed to doses of up to 155 millirem per day radiation

United States Nuclear Accidents

Year	2006
Incident Place	Erwin
Country	U.S
IAEA Description	Thirty-five litres of a highly enriched uranium solution leaked during transfer

Year	2005
Incident Place	Braidwood
Country	U.S
IAEA Description	Nuclear material leak

Year	1979
Incident Place	Three Mile Island
Country	U.S
IAEA Description	Severe damage to the reactor core

Year	1966
Incident Place	Monroe
Country	U.S
IAEA Description	Sodium cooling system malfunction

Year	1964
Incident Place	Charlestown
Country	U.S
IAEA Description	Error by a worker at a United Nuclear Corporation fuel facility led to an accidental criticality

Year	1959
Incident Place	Santa Susana Field Laboratory
Country	U.S
IAEA Description	Partial core meltdown

United Kingdom Nuclear Accidents

Year	2005
Incident Place	Sellafield
Country	U.K
IAEA Description	Release of large quantity of radioactive material, contained within the installation

Year	1967
Incident Place	Chapelcross
Country	U.K
IAEA Description	Graphite debris partially blocked a fuel channel causing a fuel element to melt and catch fire

Year	1957
Incident Place	Windscale Pile
Country	U.K
IAEA Description	Release of radioactive material to the environment following a fire in a reactor core

Canada Nuclear Accidents

Year	1958
Incident Place	Chalk River
Country	Canada
IAEA Description	Due to inadequate cooling a damaged uranium fuel rod caught fire and was torn in two

Year	1952
Incident Place	Chalk River
Country	Canada
IAEA Description	A reactor shutoff rod failure, combined with several operator errors, led to a major power excursion of more than double the reactor's rated output at AECL's NRX reactor

Germany Nuclear Accidents

Year	1989
Incident Place	Greifswald
Country	Germany
IAEA Description	Excessive heating which damaged ten fuel rods

Year	1986
Incident Place	Hamm-Uentrop
Country	Germany
IAEA Description	Spherical fuel pebble became lodged in the pipe used to deliver fuel elements to the reactor

Belgium Nuclear Accidents

Year	2006
Incident Place	Fleurus
Country	Belgium
IAEA Description	Severe health effects for a worker at a commercial irradiation facility as a result of high doses of radiation

Sweden Nuclear Accidents

Year	2006
Incident Place	Forsmark
Country	Sweden
IAEA Description	Degraded safety functions for common cause failure in the emergency power supply system at nuclear power plant

Argentina Nuclear Accidents

Year	2005
Incident Place	Atucha
Country	Argentina
IAEA Description	Overexposure of a worker at a power reactor exceeding the annual limit

Hungary Nuclear Accidents

Year	2003
Incident Place	Paks
Country	Hungary
IAEA Description	Partially spent fuel rods undergoing cleaning in a tank of heavy water ruptured and spilled fuel pellets

Peru Nuclear Accidents

Year	1999
Incident Place	Yanangio
Country	Peru
IAEA Description	Incident with radiography source resulting in severe radiation burns

 

Turkey Nuclear Accidents

Year	1999
Incident Place	Ikitelli
Country	Turkey
IAEA Description	Loss of a highly radioactive Co-60 source

Russia Nuclear Accidents

Year	1993
Incident Place	Tomsk
Country	Russia
IAEA Description	Pressure buildup led to an explosive mechanical failure

Year	1957
Incident Place	Kyshtym
Country	Russia
IAEA Description	"Significant release of radioactive material to the environment from explosion of a high activity waste tank."

France Nuclear Accidents

Year	1993
Incident Place	Cadarache
Country	France
IAEA Description	Spread of contamination to an area not expected by design

Year	1980
Incident Place	France
Country	Saint Laurent des Eaux
IAEA Description	Melting of one channel of fuel in the reactor with no release outside the site

Spain Nuclear Accidents

Year	1989
Incident Place	Vandellos
Country	Spain
IAEA Description	Near accident caused by fire resulting in loss of safety systems at the nuclear power station

Czechoslovakia Nuclear Accidents

Year	1977
Incident Place	Jaslovské Bohunice
Country	Czechoslovakia
IAEA Description	Damaged fuel integrity, extensive corrosion damage of fuel cladding and release of radioactivity

Switzerland Nuclear Accidents

Year	1969
Incident Place	Lucens
Country	Switzerland
IAEA Description	Total loss of coolant led to a power excursion and explosion of experimental reactor

Yugoslavia Nuclear Accidents

Year	1958
Incident Place	Vinča
Country	Yugoslavia
IAEA Description	During a subcritical counting experiment a power buildup went undetected - six scientists received high doses

Ukraine (USSR) Nuclear Accidents

Year	1986
Incident Place	Chernobyl
Country	Ukraine (USSR)
IAEA Description	Widespread health and environmental effects. External release of a significant fraction of reactor core inventory