Nuclear reactor accidents in the United States facts for kids

Erosion of the 6-inch (150 mm) thick carbon steel reactor head, caused by a leak of water, at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant.

In the United States, there have been at least 56 accidents at nuclear reactors since 1952. These are incidents that caused either loss of life or more than $50,000 in property damage. The most serious accident was the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. The Davis-Besse Nuclear Plant has had two of the five most dangerous nuclear incidents in the U.S. since 1979. Luckily, very few of these accidents have caused deaths.

What are Nuclear Reactor Accidents?

Around the world, there have been at least 99 nuclear reactor accidents between 1952 and 2009. These accidents caused about $20.5 billion in property damage. Accidents can involve things like meltdowns, explosions, fires, or losing the cooling water. They can happen during normal operations or during emergencies like earthquakes. The costs include fixing damage, emergency help, cleaning up the environment, and other expenses. Because nuclear reactors are very large and complex, accidents can be quite expensive.

In the U.S., more than 56 nuclear reactor accidents have happened. The Three Mile Island accident in 1979 was the most serious one. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that the Davis–Besse Nuclear Power Station has been involved in two of the top five most dangerous nuclear incidents in the U.S. since 1979.

The United States Government Accountability Office reported over 150 incidents from 2001 to 2006 where nuclear plants did not meet safety rules. They said that over 75% of operating plants had extra safety checks for a while.

A Brief History of Nuclear Safety

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 encouraged private companies in the U.S. to build nuclear reactors. This was a new area, and there were many early accidents at test reactors. Because of these risks, the Price-Anderson Act was created in 1957. This law helped protect companies from huge costs if an accident happened.

Nuclear accidents continued into the 1960s. In January 1961, a small test reactor called Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One exploded in Idaho Falls. Three people died, which were the first deaths in U.S. nuclear reactor operations. There was also a partial meltdown at the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan in 1966.

As nuclear reactors became larger in the late 1960s, new safety questions came up. People worried about a serious accident releasing a lot of radiation. In the early 1970s, there was a big debate about emergency cooling systems. These systems are designed to stop a core meltdown, which is sometimes called the "China syndrome".

In 1976, four nuclear engineers, including three from GE, resigned. They said that nuclear power was not as safe as their bosses claimed. They told a government committee that a nuclear power plant accident was "a certain event." They believed it was only a matter of "when, and where."

The Three Mile Island Accident

President Jimmy Carter leaving Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Middletown, Pennsylvania, on April 1, 1979.

On March 28, 1979, a serious accident happened at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. Equipment failed, and human errors led to a loss of cooling water. This caused a partial meltdown of the reactor's core. It took five days for officials to understand how serious and complex the accident was. They had to decide if people needed to be evacuated.

The cleanup of the plant began in August 1979 and finished in December 1993. It cost about $1 billion. One expert, Benjamin K. Sovacool, estimated the total property damage from the accident was $2.4 billion. Most experts agree that the health effects on people from the Three Mile Island accident were very small.

The Three Mile Island accident forced the nuclear industry to make many safety improvements. However, it also increased opposition to nuclear power. Protests against nuclear power happened all over the world after this event.

List of Accidents and Incidents in the U.S.

Keeping Nuclear Power Safe

A cleanup crew working to remove radioactive contamination after the Three Mile Island accident.

Nuclear safety in the U.S. is managed by federal rules from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC oversees all nuclear plants and materials in the U.S., except for those controlled by the U.S. government or used in naval ships.

The Three Mile Island accident in 1979 was a very important event that made people question U.S. nuclear safety. Other events also had a similar effect. These included a 1975 fire at Browns Ferry and the warnings from three concerned GE nuclear engineers in 1976, known as the GE Three. In 1981, workers accidentally put pipe restraints on backward at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. This mistake affected earthquake protection systems. All these well-known events made the public less supportive of the U.S. nuclear industry in the 1970s and 1980s.

Recently, there have been new worries about reactor safety. In 2012, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported that "leakage of radioactive materials is a widespread problem at almost 90 percent of all reactors." They also noted other issues that could lead to nuclear accidents.

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, a survey of U.S. electric utility executives showed that nuclear safety was their top concern. There will likely be stricter rules for storing used nuclear fuel at plants. Also, licenses for older reactors might be checked again. Some licenses already given to over 60 of the 104 operating U.S. reactors could be reviewed. How spent fuel is stored will probably be looked at again because of what happened at Fukushima.

In October 2011, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decided to move forward with seven of 12 safety suggestions. These suggestions include "new standards to help operators deal with a complete loss of power." They also aim to make sure plants can handle floods and earthquakes. And they want to improve how quickly emergency teams can respond. These new safety standards will take up to five years to fully put into place.

See also

In Spanish: Accidentes de reactores nucleares en Estados Unidos para niños