The Worst World Disasters of All Time. Kevin Baker
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26th of April 1986. The reactor is near the city of Pripyat. There was a power surge and when the emergency shutdown occurred there was a large spike in power. This caused steam explosions and the reactor vessel was ruptured. In the reactor the graphite moderator became exposed to air and this ignited which sent a large plume of fallout and radiation over a large area and over the city of Pripyat. In Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine over 350,000 people were evacuated from the most contaminated zones and resettled elsewhere. It is estimated that about 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus.
The accident called into question the safety of Russian nuclear plants and the accident itself lead to reforms in Russia which eventually led to the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine continue to clean up the mess from this horrific accident even to this day. The entire world receives an additional 21 days of normal background radiation because of this accident. Around the site these doses were considerably higher. The 530,000 recovery workers received an additional 50 years’ worth of regular background radiation because of the accident. It is unclear how the accident will impact future generations in the area or around the world.
There were 31 reported deaths because of the accident but in 2008 a UNSCEAR report claimed there were 64 as a result of the radiation. The long-term impacts could claim as many as 4000 lives. A report by the International Journal of Cancer in 2006 claimed that the accident has caused 1,000 cases of thyroid cancer and about 4,000 cases of other types of cancers in Europe, which is about 0.01% of all incident cancers since the accident happened. By the year 2065 it is estimated that there will be 16,000 cases of thyroid cancer and an additional 25,000 cases of other cancers as a direct result of the accident.
During the accident this city was not immediately evacuated. After a few short hours many of the residents got sick with coughing fits, severe headaches, and vomiting due to radiation exposure. The people of the USSR were only informed of the accident on the 28th which was two days after the initial accident which involved only a 20 second announcement on a television news program. The excessive radiation set off alarms at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden and it was only then that the Soviets admitted they had a problem at Chernobyl. The city of Pripyat was evacuated on the 27th of April. The evacuation notice told people to only take food and water and because of this their personal belongings are still there, as the city is uninhabitable today. There is a 30 km exclusion zone still in place. There are tourists who go to this area but they enter at their own risk and carry radiation detectors.
Most of this area has returned to forest and the radiation levels in the area are still high. Workers that are rebuilding the Chernobyl sarcophagus work for 5 hours a day for about one month and then get 15 days off. It has been estimated that this area will not be safe for people to live in for about another 20,000 years.
15 – Bhopal Gas Tragedy
Bhopal memorial for those killed and disabled. Image author: Luca Frediani
Date: 2nd - 3rd December 1984.
Location: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
Disaster Type: Gas leak.
Fatalities: 500,000 people exposed and at least 2,259+ deaths.
The Bhopal gas tragedy, or the ‘Bhopal disaster’ as it is also known, is the world’s worst industrial accident to date that occurred in India on the night of the 2nd to the 3rd of December, 1984. This incident involved a release of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to this gas as it went through the shanty towns that were situated near the plant. There are variations in the total estimated fatalities but about 2,259 initially died in the disaster according to the official immediate death toll. An affidavit in 2006 by the government stated that there were 558,125 injuries with 38,478 temporary partial injuries and about 3,900 people who were severely and permanently injured as a result of the disaster.
There were trade unions in 1976 that complained about pollution within this plant and in 1981 a worker was splashed with phosgene and died. In 1981 American experts warned that there was a chance of a “runaway reaction” in the MIC storage tank. Union Carbide was told about these problems as early as 1979 but nothing was done. In 1982 there was another phosgene incident that sent 24 people to hospital with exposure. There were numerous problems at this plant prior to the major gas leak.
Methylamine will react with phosgene and create methyl isocyanate. This can then react with naphtol to yield carbaryl. In November of 1984 many of the safety systems were not working or were in poor condition. The vent gas scrubbers were out of service as well as the steam boiler which was needed to clean the pipes. One tank contained more MIC than it was supposed to have. On the night of 2nd-3rd of December water entered this tank and a runaway reaction was created. High temperatures, contaminants and corroding steel pipes accelerated the process. The tank temperature increased to over 200 C (392 F) with increased pressure. As a result of this, over 30 metric tons of the methyl isocyanate (MIC) was released into the atmosphere in about 45-60 minutes.
Exposure to the gas caused vomiting, coughing, a feeling of suffocation, and severe eye irritation. Some people who were experiencing these symptoms managed to flee away from the plant to the surrounding area. Those that were shorter in height, such as children, took a larger amount of the gas in their systems. In the rush to escape the gas many people were also trampled to death. By the morning hours there were already thousands who were dead. Acute exposure caused reflexogenic circulatory collapse, choking, and pulmonary oedema. Many of the bodies were dumped in the Narmada River near Bhopal. Over 2,000 animals died and about 170,000 people were treated at hospitals. The leaves even fell off of tress because of the gas and there were food as well as fish shortages after the disaster because of fears of contamination.
The Indian government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Act by December which gave them rights to represent the victims, as Union Carbide was not doing enough with the relief work. After the disaster the health care industry became overloaded with treating people so the state government came in and established a number of extra hospitals to treat the injured. Not many people in the initial stages knew how to treat the resulting injuries, so many people only received eye drops or some cough medicine at first.
In 1986 the plant was closed but there are still indications of contamination around the area, such as the waters being toxic to fish. In 2012 an effort was made to dispose of the toxic waste around the closed factory.
16 – Hindenburg Disaster
The Hindenberg going up in flames.
Date: 6th May 1937.
Location: Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey.
Disaster Type: Fire.
Fatalities: 36 deaths.
Resulting Damage: German passenger airship destroyed.
Just like any new technology, it took some time for flying to become what we now know today. In the early 20th century, people had not experienced large scale air disasters, and so far most airplanes were small vehicles that carried only a few people. But as demand grew for air travel, so did vehicles to carry them. Soon, large airships were constructed to carry passengers over large distances, but very little was done to ensure adequate safety measures. In fact, in order to make them easier to fly, these early airships were filled with hydrogen, making them a real bomb waiting to go off. It wasn't until the Hindenburg disaster that people realized how dangerous that could be.
The Hindenburg was a German made airship which left for its first commercial trip to the US in May of 1937. After running for a year between Germany and Brazil, it was to now start round-trips between Frankfurt and New York City. It lifted off on May 3rd and took three days to cross the ocean. It headed towards Lakehurst where it was set to land with passengers then taking connecting flights. However,