Worldwide, many nuclear accidents and serious incidents have occurred before and since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Two thirds of these mishaps occurred in the US.
Nuclear safety
The nuclear power industry has improved the safety and performance of reactors, and has proposed new safer (but generally untested) reactor designs but there is no guarantee that the reactors will be designed, built and operated correctly. Mistakes do occur and the designers of reactors at Fukushima in Japan did not anticipate that a tsunami generated by an unexpected large earthquake would disable the backup systems that were supposed to stabilize the reactor after the earthquake. According to UBS AG, the Fukushima I nuclear accidents have cast doubt on whether even an advanced economy like Japan can master nuclear safety. Catastrophic scenarios involving terrorist attacks are also conceivable. An interdisciplinary team from MIT has estimated that given the expected growth of nuclear power from 2005 to 2055, at least four serious nuclear accidents would be expected in that period.
Overview Globally, there have been at least 99 (civilian and military) recorded nuclear power plant accidents from 1952 to 2009 (defined as incidents that either resulted in the loss of human life or more than US$50,000 of property damage, the amount the US federal government uses to define nuclear energy accidents that must be reported), totaling US$20.5 billion in property damages. Property damage costs include destruction of property, emergency response, environmental remediation, evacuation, lost product, fines, and court claims.Benjamin K. Sovacool. A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 40, No. 3, August 2010, pp. 379–380. Because nuclear power plants are large and complex, accidents on site tend to be relatively expensive.
The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania was caused by a series of failures in secondary systems at the reactor, which allowed radioactive steam to escape and resulted in the partial core meltdown of one of two reactors at the site, making it the most significant accident in U.S. history.Stencel, Mark. "A Nuclear Nightmare in Pennsylvania", The Washington Post, March 27, 1999. Accessed July 5, 2010.
The world's worst nuclear accident has been the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union, one of two accidents that has been rated as a level 7 (the highest) event on the International Nuclear Event Scale."International Nuclear Event Scale Enhances Public Communications" , Nuclear Energy Institute. Accessed July 5, 2010. Note that the Chernobyl disaster may have scored an 8 or 9, if the scale continued. The accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after an unsafe systems test led to a series of steam explosions that destroyed reactor number four. The plume spread in the near distance primarily over Belarus and after that covered extensive portions of Europe with traces of radioactivity, leaving reindeer in Northern Europe and sheep in portions of England unfit for human consumption. A "Zone of alienation" has been formed around the reactor.Mulvey, Steve. "Chernobyl diary – Part One", BBC News, April 4, 2006. Accessed July 5, 2010.
Transparency China doesn't deliver much useful information about the incidents of its fast growing fleet of nuclear power plants. The same problem exists with Russia, after Glasnost-transparency again under Vladimir Putin.
Belgium This list is incomplete but there are no known fatalities in Belgium. See the Laka Foundation's list of recent nuclear and radiological incidents in Belgium from which this table is (partially) derived. +Nuclear power accidents in Belgium Date Location Description Fatalities Cost (in millions 2006 US$)INES rating1978Tihange, Belgium79 persons received doses from a Iodine-131-release of the plant.Süddeutsche Zeitung, 30. April 198602002TihangeSafety injection during hot shutdown at Tihange 2 unit.022005TihangeInadequate protection relays and related setpoints.022011Doel, BelgiumInadequate setting of the auxiliary feedwater turbopump.02
Canada +Nuclear power accidents in Canada Date Location Description Fatalities Cost (in millions 2006 US$)INES rating December 12, 1952 CRL, Ontario, Canada The NRX accident. A hydrogen explosion occurred in the reactor core due to a cascade of malfunctions and operator errors. The world's first major nuclear reactor accident. 0 See NRX accident5 May 24, 1958 CRL, Ontario, Canada The NRU accident. A fuel rod caught fire and broke when removed, then dispersed fission products and alpha-emitting particles in the reactor building. 0 See NRU accident. November 1978 WR-1 Reactor at Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada 2,739 litres of coolant oil leaked, most of it into the Winnipeg River. The repair took several weeks for workers to complete. 0 Unknown August 1, 1983 Pickering nuclear Reactor 2, Pickering, Ontario, Canada LOCA loss of coolant accident. Pressure tube, that holds the fuel bundles, ruptured due to hydriding. All four reactors re-tubed with new materials (Zr-2.5%Nb) over ten years. 0 1 billion Canadian dollars (1983-1993). March 1986 Bruce nuclear Reactor 2, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada LOCA Loss of coolant accident. Pressure tube rupture during pressurizing test (reactor shut down). Pressure tube holds the fuel bundles. 0 Unknown August 2, 1992 Pickering nuclear Reactor 1, Pickering, Ontario, Canada A Heavy water leak of 2300 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium into Lake Ontario, resulting in increased levels of tritium in Toronto drinking water . 0 Unknown. December 10, 1994 Pickering nuclear Reactor 2, Pickering, Ontario, Canada Loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). A spill of 185 tonnes of heavy water. The Emergency Core Cooling System was used to prevent a meltdown. 0 Unknown.2 June 11, 2002 Bruce nuclear Reactor 6, Bruce B station. Bruce County, Ontario, Canada Pressure tube and calandria tube damage during a channel maintenance procedure, required replacement of the two tubes. 0 Unknown0 December 21, 2009 Darlington nuclear station. Clarington, Ontario, Canada Around 200,000 litres of water with trace amounts of radioactive isotope tritium coming from a storage tank mistakenly were released by workers into Lake Ontario, representing 0.1% of the monthly allowed amounts of tritium for this power plant. 0 Unknown. March 14, 2011 Pickering nuclear Plant A Pickering, Ontario, Canada A leak of 73 cubic metres (73,000 litres) of demineralized water into Lake Ontario from a failed pump seal. There was negligible risk to the public according to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.Pickering Nuclear plant reports water leak, CBC News, March 16 2011 0 Unknown.
China Date Location Description Fatalities Cost INES June 2021 Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, unit 1 Damage and leakage from fuel rod housing. 0
Czech Republic Date Location Description Fatalities Cost INES 1990 Dukovany Nuclear Power Station Total loss of offsite power for all four units; one of the units two emergency diesel generators failed to start automatically, requiring a manual.SKI-incident report IRS, 1998 (SKI was the former name of the swedish nuclear oversight authority) 0 2 January 2024 Dukovany, unit 3 Loss of all three redundancies of the digital Reactor protection system for approximately one hour. None of the safety systems of the plant, including the automatic Reactor scram, were available during this period (manual scram was operable). Event website of the IAEA 0 2
France +Nuclear power accidents in FranceBenjamin K. Sovacool (2009). The Accidental Century – Prominent Energy Accidents in the Last 100 Years Benjamin K. Sovacool. A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 40, No. 3, August 2010, pp. 393–400. Date Location Description Fatalities Cost (in millions 2006 US$) INES rating 17 Oct 1969 Loir-et-Cher, France 50 kg of uranium dioxide melted inside of the A1 nuclear reactor of Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux, during a refueling operation 0 Unknown (likely far less than the 13 Mar 1980 accident) 4 25 Jul 1979 Saclay, France Radioactive fluids escaped into drains designed for ordinary wastes, seeping into the local watershed at the Saclay BL3 Reactor 0 5 13 Mar 1980 Loir-et-Cher, France A malfunctioning cooling system fused fuel elements together at the Saint Laurent A2 reactor, melting two fuel assemblies and forcing an extended shutdown 0 22 4 14 Apr 1984 Bugey, France Electrical cables failed at the command center of the Bugey Nuclear Power Plant and forced a complete shutdown of one reactor with clearly reduced safety margin 0 2 2 21 May 1986 Normandy, France Pipe maintenance at the fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague site released a radioactive solution to which three welders and two plant workers were exposed. 0 5 27 Dec 1999 Blayais, France An unexpectedly strong storm flooded the Blayais Nuclear Power Plant, forcing an emergency shutdown after injection pumps and containment safety systems failed from water damage 0 55 2 21 Jan 2002 Manche, France Control systems and safety valves failed after improper installation of condensers, forcing a two-month shutdown 0 102 16 May 2004 Cattenom-2, Lorraine, France Sub-standard electrical cable trays at the Cattenom-2 nuclear reactor caused a fire in an electricity tunnel, damaging many safety system cables 0 12 1 13 Jul 2008 Tricastin, France Thirty cubic meters of wastewater contaminated with uranium were accidentally poured on the ground and runoff into a nearby river 0 7 1 9 Aug 2009 Gravelines, France Assembly system failed to properly eject spent fuel rods from the Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant, causing the fuel rods to jam and the defueling operation to be suspended 0 2 1 5 Apr 2012 Penly Nuclear Power Plant, France Fire on a primary pump of the second reactor, followed by a small radioactive leak into the containment 0 1 2017 France, generic 20 reactors of the 1300 MW-class with seismic weaknesses on their Emergency diesel generators 0 2 2023 Penly, France Deep corrosion crack at a pipe that connects the Emergency core cooling water with the Reactor one's core cooling system, elevating the risk of a Loss-of-coolant accident. 0 2
Germany +Nuclear power accidents in Germany Date Location Description Fatalities Cost (in millions 2006 US$ million) INES 1975 Greifswald, East Germany A near core meltdown at Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant: Three out of six cooling water pumps were switched off for a failed test. A fourth pump broke down by loss of electric power and control of the reactor was lost. 10 fuel elements were slightly damaged before recovery 0 ? 3 4 May 1986 Hamm-Uentrop, Germany Operator actions to dislodge damaged fuel elements at the Thorium high-temperature reactor released radioactivity to 4 km2 surrounding the facility 0 267 17 Dec 1987 Hessen, Germany Stop valve failed for a moment at Biblis Nuclear Power Plant, nearly leading to a bypass of the reactor water into the reactor building and subsequently the environment 0 13
India