Environment & Energy

Nuclear power accidents in USA

Date Location Description Fatalities Cost
(in millions
2006 US$) INES
November 29, 1955 Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA Power excursion with partial core meltdown at National Reactor Testing Station's EBR-1 Experimental Breeder Reactor I 0 5
July 26, 1959 Simi Valley, California, USA Partial core meltdown at Santa Susana Field Laboratory’s Sodium Reactor Experiment 0 32
January 3, 1961 Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA Explosion at National Reactor Testing Station's SL-1 Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One 3 22 4
October 5, 1966 Monroe, Michigan, USA Sodium cooling system malfunctions at Enrico Fermi demonstration breeder reactor causing some fuel elements to melt 0 19 4
August 11, 1973 Palisades, Michigan, USA Steam generator leak causes manual shutdown of pressurized water reactor 0 10
March 22, 1975 Browns Ferry, Alabama, USA Fire burns for seven hours and damages more than 1600 control cables for one of the three nuclear reactors at Browns Ferry, disabling core cooling systems 0 240 3
November 5, 1975 Brownsville, Nebraska, USA Hydrogen gas explosion damages the Cooper Nuclear Station’s auxiliary building 0 13
June 10, 1977 Waterford, Connecticut, USA Hydrogen gas explosion damages three buildings and forces shutdown of Millstone-1 Boiling Water Reactor 0 15
February 4, 1979 Surry, Virginia, USA Surry Unit 2 shut down in response to failing tube bundles in steam generators 0 12
March 28, 1979 Middletown, Pennsylvania, USA Loss of coolant and partial core meltdown, see Three Mile Island accident and Three Mile Island accident health effects 0 2,400 5
October 17, 1981 Buchanan, New York, USA 100,000 gallons of Hudson River water leaked into the Indian Point Energy Center Unit 2 containment building from the fan cooling unit, undetected by a safety device designed to detect hot water. The flooding, covering the first 9 feet of the reactor vessel, was discovered when technicians entered the building. Two pumps which should have removed the water were found to be inoperative. NRC proposed a $210,000 fine for the incident.[73] 0
January 25, 1982 Rochester, New York, USA Steam generator-leak at the Ginna Nuclear Generating Station causes extensive injection of the high pressure emergency core cooling system 0 ?
March 20, 1982 Lycoming, New York, USA Recirculation system piping fails at Nine Mile Point Unit 1, forcing two year shutdown 0 45
March 25, 1982 Buchanan, New York, USA Damage to steam generator tubes and main generator resulting in a shut down Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 for more than a year 0 56
June 18, 1982 Senaca, South Carolina, USA Feedwater heat extraction line fails at Oconee 2 Pressurised Water Reactor, damaging thermal cooling system 0 10
February 12, 1983 Forked River, New Jersey, USA Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant fails safety inspection, forced to shut down for repairs 0 32
February 26, 1983 Fort Pierce, Florida, USA Damaged thermal shield and core barrel support at St Lucie Unit 1, necessitating 13-month shutdown 0 54
September 15, 1984 Athens, Alabama, USA Safety violations, operator error, and design problems force six year outage at Browns Ferry Unit 2 0 110
March 9, 1985 Athens, Alabama, USA Instrumentation systems malfunction during start-up, which led to suspension of operations at all three Browns Ferry Units 0 1,830
April 11, 1986 Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA Recurring equipment problems force emergency shutdown of Boston Edison's Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant 0 1,001
March 31, 1987 Delta, Pennsylvania, USA Peach Bottom units 2 and 3 shutdown due to cooling malfunctions and unexplained equipment problems 0 400
December 19, 1987 Lycoming, New York, USA Malfunctions force Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation to shut down Nine Mile Point Unit 1 0 150
September 10, 1988 Surry, Virginia, USA Refuelling cavity seal fails and destroys internal pipe system at Surry Unit 2, forcing 12-month outage 0 9
March 5, 1989 Tonopah, Arizona, USA Atmospheric dump valves fail at Palo Verde Unit 1, leading to main transformer fire and emergency shutdown 0 14
March 17, 1989 Lusby, Maryland, USA Inspections at Calvert Cliff Units 1 and 2 reveal cracks at pressurized heater sleeves, forcing extended shutdowns 0 120
November 17, 1991 Scriba, New York, USA Safety and fire problems force shut down of the FitzPatrick nuclear reactor for 13 months 0 5
April 21, 1992 Southport, North Carolina, USA NRC forces shut down of Brunswick Units 1 and 2 after emergency diesel generators fail 0 2
February 3, 1993 Bay City, Texas, USA Auxiliary feed-water pumps fail at South Texas Project Units 1 and 2, prompting rapid shutdown of both reactors 0 3
February 27, 1993 Buchanan, New York, USA New York Power Authority shuts down Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 after AMSAC system fails 0 2
March 2, 1993 Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, USA Equipment failures and broken pipes cause shut down of Sequoyah Unit 1 0 3
December 25, 1993 Newport, Michigan, USA Shut down of Fermi Unit 2 after main turbine experienced major failure due to improper maintenance 0 67
14 January 1995 Wiscasset, Maine, USA Steam generator tubes unexpectedly crack at Maine Yankee nuclear reactor; shut down of the facility for a year 0 62
May 16, 1995 Salem, New Jersey, USA Ventilation systems fail at Salem Units 1 and 2 0 34
February 20, 1996 Connecticut, USA Leaking valve forces shutdown Millstone Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2, multiple equipment failures found 0 254
September 2, 1996 Crystal River, Florida, USA Balance-of-plant equipment malfunction forces shutdown and extensive repairs at Crystal River Unit 3 0 384
September 5, 1996 Clinton, Illinois, USA Reactor recirculation pump fails, prompting shut down of Clinton boiling water reactor 0 38
September 20, 1996 Senaca, Illinois, USA Service water system fails and results in closure of LaSalle Units 1 and 2 for more than 2 years 0 71
September 9, 1997 Bridgman, Michigan, USA Ice condenser containment systems fail at Cook Units 1 and 2 0 11
May 25, 1999 Waterford, Connecticut, USA Steam leak in feed-water heater causes manual shutdown and damage to control board annunciator at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant 0 7
September 29, 1999 Lower Alloways Creek, New Jersey, USA Major Freon leak at Hope Creek Nuclear Facility causes ventilation train chiller to trip, releasing toxic gas and damaging the cooling system 0 2
February 16, 2002 Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA Severe corrosion of control rod drives in the reactor head forces 24-month outage of Davis-Besse reactor 0 143
January 15, 2003 Bridgman, Michigan, USA A fault in the main transformer at the Donald C. Cook nuclear power plant causes a fire that damages the main generator and back-up turbines 0 10
June 16, 2005 Braidwood, Illinois, USA Exelon's Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station leaks tritium and contaminates local water supplies 0 41
August 4, 2005 Buchanan, New York, USA Entergy's Indian Point Energy Center Nuclear Plant leaks tritium and strontium into underground lakes from 1974 to 2005 30
March 6, 2006 Erwin, Tennessee, USA Nuclear fuel services plant spills 35 litres of highly enriched uranium, necessitating 7-month shutdown 0 98
November 21, 2009 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA Twelve workers were contaminated after radioactive dust was mobilized at the Three Mile Island plant during pipe maintenance works.[74] 0
January 7, 2010 Buchanan, New York, USA NRC inspectors reported that an estimated 600,000 gallons of mildly radioactive steam was intentionally vented after an automatic shutdown of Indian Point Energy Center Unit 2. The levels of tritium in the steam were below those allowable by NRC safety standards.[75] 0 0
February 1, 2010 Vernon, Vermont, USA Deteriorating underground pipes from the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant leak radioactive tritium into groundwater supplies 0 700
March 13, 2013 Russellville, Arkansas, USA Temporary overhead crane collapsed at Arkansas Nuclear One's Unit 1[76] 1 ?
1986 Surry, Virginia, USA Broken Feedwater pipe at Surry Nuclear Power Plant kills 4 4 ?
August 2011 Louisa county, Virginia, USA A 5.8-earthquake in the region caused the loss of offsite power at the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station. Later in the incident, the plant lost an emergency diesel generator, leading to the activation of the so-called SBO diesel generator - an emergency situation. 0 ? 2
January 2014 St. Lucie, Florida, USA Flooding of the auxiliary building of the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant, caused by lacking proper flood barriers[77] 0 ?
July 2016 Michigan, USA Massive steam leak in the turbine building of Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, unit 2 0 ?
December 2019 Nebraska, USA One of the two safety related component cooling systems of Cooper Nuclear Station was unable to operate, because its service water system, that takes water from the river, was plugged with silt.[78] 0 ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_power_accidents_by_country

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