List of nuclear power accidents by country

Worldwide, there have been 99 nuclear accidents to 2009, totalling US$20.5 billion in property damages. Most accidents have occurred in the United States. Relatively few accidents involved fatalities.

Overview

Globally, there have been 99 nuclear 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 major energy accidents that must be reported), totalling 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. Because nuclear power plants are large and complex accidents onsite tend to be relatively expensive.

The worst nuclear accident has been the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine. Fifty-seven accidents have occurred since the Chernobyl disaster, and almost two-thirds (56 out of 99) of all nuclear accidents have occurred in the USA. Relatively few accidents have involved fatalities.

France

Nuclear power accidents in France

Date	Location	Description	Fatalities	Cost (in millions 2006 US$)
25 July 1979	Saclay, France	Radioactive fluids escape into drains designed for ordinary wastes, seeping into the local watershed at the Saclay BL3 Reactor	0	5
13 March 1980	Loir-et-Cher, France	A malfunctioning cooling system fuses fuel elements together at the Saint Laurent A2 reactor, ruining the fuel assembly and forcing an extended shutdown	0	22
14 April 1984	Bugey, France	Electrical cables fail at the command centre of the Bugey Nuclear Power Plant and force a complete shutdown of one reactor	0	2
22 May 1986	Normandy, France	A reprocessing plant at Le Hague malfunctions and exposes workers to unsafe levels of radiation and forces five to be hospitalised	0	5
12 April 1987	Tricastin, France	Tricastin fast breeder reactor leaks coolant, sodium and uranium hexachloride, injuring seven workers and contaminating water supplies	0	50
27 December 1999	Blayais, France	An unexpectedly strong storm floods the Blayais-2 nuclear reactor, forcing an emergency shutdown after injection pumps and containment safety systems fail from water damage	0	55
21 January 2002	Manche, France	Control systems and safety valves fail after improper installation of condensers, forcing a two-month shutdown	0	102
16 May 2005	Lorraine, France	Sub-standard electrical cables at the Cattenon-2 nuclear reactor cause a fire in an electricity funnel, damaging safety systems	0	12
13 July 2008	Tricastin, France	Dozens of litres of wastewater contaminated with uranium are accidentally poured on the ground and runoff into a nearby river	0	7
12 August 2009	Gravelines, France	Assembly system fails to properly eject spent fuel rods from the Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant, causing the fuel rods to jam and the reactor to shut down	0	2

India

Nuclear power accidents in India

Date	Location	Description	Fatalities	Cost (in millions 2006 US$)
4 May 1987	Kalpakkam, India	Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam refuelling accident that ruptures the reactor core, resulting in a two-year shutdown	0	300
10 September 1989	Tarapur, Maharashtra, India	Operators at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station find that the reactor had been leaking radioactive iodine at more than 700 times normal levels. Repairs to the reactor take more than a year	0	78
13 May 1992	Tarapur, Maharashtra, India	A malfunctioning tube causes the Tarapur Atomic Power Station to release 12 curies of radioactivity	0	2
31 March 1993	Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India	The Narora Atomic Power Station suffers a fire at two of its steam turbine blades, damaging the heavy water reactor and almost leading to a meltdown	0	220
2 February 1995	Kota, Rajasthan, India	The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station leaks radioactive helium and heavy water into the Rana Pratap Sagar River, necessitating a two-year shutdown for repairs		280
22 October 2002	Kalpakkam, India	Almost 100 kg radioactive sodium at a fast breeder reactor leaks into a purification cabin, ruining a number of valves and operating systems	0	30

Ukraine

Nuclear power accidents in Ukraine

Date	Location	Description	Fatalities	Cost (in millions 2006 US$)
26 April 1986	Kiev, Ukraine	Mishandled reactor safety test at Chernobyl nuclear reactor causes steam explosion and meltdown, necessitating the evacuation of 300,000 people from Kiev and dispersing radioactive material across Europe	4056	6700