The Environment Chronicle

Notable environmental events between 1950 and 1959 Deselect

  1. Reactor accident at Windscale (Sellafield, England). 35 fatalities.

  2. After an accident involving radioactive material, a large area around an atomic facility in the Urals (Russia) becomes contaminated.

  3. Early in the morning on March 1, 1954, the hydrogen bomb, code named Bravo, was detonated on the surface of the reef in the northwestern corner of Bikini Atoll and created widespread radioactive contamination.

  4. A thermal reaction releases TCDD in a production plant, injuring 55. Investigation after 30 years shows

  5. In 1952, the first incidents of mercury poisoning appear in the population of Minimata Bay in Japan, caused by consumption of fish polluted with mercury, bringing over 500 fatalities. Since then, Japan has had the strictest environmental laws in the industrialised world.

  6. In Ohio (USA), a factory releases c. 200 t of radioactive uranium dust into the environment, with government permission.