Failure of water pumps caused a chain reaction of higher and higher temperatures and some radioactive gas began to escape into the surrounding area. The worst accident in the history of U.S. commercial nuclear power generation occurred at 4:00 A.M. on March 28, 1979. It happened at the Three Mile Island installation near Middleton, Pennsylvania, …
Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident – Pennsylvania – March 28, 1979 Read More »
The Ocean Ranger was stationed at sea 170 miles east of Newfoundland. Because of inadequate preparations for windstorms 84 lives were lost. The Ocean Ranger, an oil-drilling rig stationed in the North Atlantic 170 miles east of Newfoundland, Canada, encountered a one hundred mph storm on 15 February 1982. Storm waves swept over the uppermost …
Canada Sinking of Oil Platform – February 15, 1982 Read More »
All seven astronauts were killed and the accident gave rise to new, stringent, regulations about decisions on launching. Shortly before noon on January 28, 1986 the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Seven people were on board, five of them astronauts and two civilians. In less than one …
Challenger Fire/Explosion – Florida – January 28, 1986 Read More »
Union Carbide’s factory was built to provide insecticide for India’s farmers so they would not lose crops. When demand for insecticide dropped Union Carbide began to cut costs wherever it could and, in the process, created circumstances that led to the disaster. In the early hours of December 3, 1984, tons of poisonous gas escaped …
Through neglect of the advice of geological experts, this dam was built on unstable ground that failed when the dam was filled with water. Discussions about a dam on the Teton River began in the early years of the twentieth century. It would provide additional water resources, flood control, and electrical power. Discussions intensified in …
A landslide within the Vaiont Dam in northern Italy displaced a massive volume of water from the dam that flooded the valley below. On October 9, 1963, between 10 and 11 P.M., a massive wave of water crashed over the top of the Vaiont Dam destroying everything in its path and killing 2,600 people. At …