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 The Flixborough disaster was an explosion at a chemical plant close to the village of Flixborough (near Scunthorpe), North Lincolnshire, England, on 1 June 1974.
It killed 28 people and seriously injured 36.
Background
The chemical plant, owned by Nypro (UK) (a joint venture between Dutch
State Mines and the British National Coal Board), and in operation
since 1967, produced caprolactam, a precursor chemical used in the
manufacture of nylon. The process involved oxidation of cyclohexane
with air in a series of six reactors to produce a mixture of
cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone. Two months prior to the explosion, a
crack was discovered in the number 5 reactor. It was decided to install
a temporary 50 cm (20 inch) diameter pipe to bypass the leaking reactor
to allow continued operation of the plant while repairs were made.
Residents of the village of Flixborough were not keen to have such a
large industrial development so close to their homes and had expressed
concern when the plant was first proposed.
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 The iconic image of Space Shuttle Challenger's smoke plume after its breakup 73 seconds after launch. The accident caused the deaths of all seven crew members of the mission.
The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program and
the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed
by United States President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident.
The Rogers Commission found that NASA's organizational culture and
decision-making processes had been a key contributing factor to the
accident. NASA managers had known that contractor Morton Thiokol's
design of the SRBs contained a potentially catastrophic flaw in the
O-rings since 1977, but they failed to address it properly. They also
ignored warnings from engineers about the dangers of launching on such
a cold day and had failed to adequately report these technical concerns
to their superiors. The Rogers Commission offered NASA nine
recommendations that were to be implemented before shuttle flights
resumed.
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A massive discharge of a chemical took place at Union Carbide's factory at Bhopal, Madya Pradesh, India, during the night of 2nd December 1984.
The accident started when a tank containing methylisocyanate (MIC) started to leak. MIC is an extremely reactive chemical and is used in production of the insecticide carbaryl.
About one-third of the town's total population of 800,000 were
afflicted. About 100,000 of these received some kind of medical
treatment, about 50,000 were hospitalized and about 2,500 received
lethal injuries. In addition, about 7,000 animals were injured, of
which about one thousand were killed.
The accident developed into the largest industrial disaster ever to occur.
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Chernobyl reactor number four after the disaster, showing the extensive damage to the main reactor hall (image center) and turbine building (image lower left)
The "Chernobyl disaster", reactor accident at the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant, or simply "Chernobyl", was the worst nuclear power plant
accident in history and the only instance so far of level 7 on the
International Nuclear Event Scale, resulting in a severe nuclear
meltdown.
On 26 April 1986 at 01:23:40 a.m. (UTC+3) reactor number four
at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in the Soviet Union near
Pripyat in Ukraine exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire
sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over
an extensive geographical area.
The plume drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern
Europe, Western Europe, Northern Europe, and eastern North America.
Large areas in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated,
resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people.
According to official post-Soviet data, about 60% of the radioactive
fallout landed in Belarus.
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Esso Longford Gas Explosion |
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The 1998 Esso Longford gas explosion was a catastrophic industrial accident which occurred at the Esso natural gas plant at Longford in the Australian state of Victoria's Gippsland region. On 25 September 1998, an explosion took place at the plant, killing two workers and injuring eight. Gas supplies to the state of Victoria were severely affected for two weeks.
Context
In 1998, the Longford gas plant was owned by a joint partnership
between Esso and BHP. Esso was responsible for the operation of the
plant. Esso was a wholly owned subsidiary of US based company Exxon,
which has since merged with Mobil, becoming Exxon Mobil. BHP has since
merged with UK based Billiton becoming BHP Billiton
Built in 1969, the plant at Longford is the onshore receiving point for
oil and natural gas output from production platforms in Bass Strait.
The Longford Gas Plant Complex consists of three gas processing plants
and one crude oil stabilisation plant. It was the primary provider of
natural gas to Victoria, and provided some supply to New South Wales.
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