The Environment Chronicle

The "Amoco Cadiz" spills c. 230,000 t crude oil into the Atlantic. The bay of Arcachon in France is particularly affected. Thousands of sea birds and mussel or oyster farms are destroyed and 200 km of the coastline is contaminated.

On 22 April 1977, an oil well blowout occurred at the Ekofisk Bravo platform, due to an incorrectly installed downhole safety valve. The blowout resulted in the first major oil release in the North Sea. At an estimated rate of 1170 barrels per hour, approximately 202,380 barrels of oil escaped before the well was finally capped 7 days later on April 30th.

The "Hawaiian Patriot" loses 95,000 t oil off the coast of Honolulu.

The Argo Merchant ran aground on Fishing Rip (Nantucket Shoals), 29 nautical miles southeast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts in high winds and ten foot seas. On December 21, the ship broke apart and spilled its entire cargo of 7.7 million gallons of No. 6 fuel oil.

In the northern Italian town of Seveso, c. 2.5 kg dioxins (2,3,7,8 TCDD) escape from a chemicals factory producing TCP, resulting in 183 cases of chloracne, 70,000 animals needing to be destroyed, with uncertain long-term consequences (e.g. cancer).

After several explosions on board, the Spanish ship "Urquiola" strikes a rock off the Spanish coast. 95,000 t oil pollute the bay of La Coruna.

The Jacob Maersk loses 88,000 t oil off the Atlantic coast of Portugal.

On 9 August 1974, the Netherlands tanker Metula ran aground on the Satellite Patch Shoal in the Straits of Magellan, Chile. Approximately 53,000 tons crude oil ran out.

The "Metula" loses 50,000 t oil in the Straits of Magellan between Tierra del Fuego and Chile.

On 19 December 1972 in Oman Sea the South Korean Sea Star supertanker collided with Brazilian tanker Horta Barbosa and spilled about 115000 tons of crude oil into the Gulf of Oman.

The "Wafra" loses 40,000 t oil off the coast of South Africa.

The tanker Othello releases between 60.000 and 100.000 tons of fuel after a collision in bay of Tralhavet , Sweden.

Bleach is accidentally added to a rail truck carrying hydrochloric acid, creating a large cloud of chlorine gas. There are 67 casualties, some with serious respiratory problems.

Unrecognised offenders discharged highly toxic Thiodan into the river Rhine near Bingen which caused the decease of at least 40 million whitings and eels downstream in Germany and the Netherlands.

On 21 January 1968, a US B-52 bomber with several nuclear weapons on board crashed near the Thule Air Base in North-Western Greenland, releasing several kilos of weapons grade plutonium. The plutonium contaminated the immediate snow and ice at the crash site and was carried by high winds and water over an extensive area.

c. 120,000 t oil are spilt from the Torrey Canyon and cause the largest oil slick to date off the British, French and Dutch coasts.

Owing to methyl mercury pollution in water, the Swedish Medical Board prohibits consumption of fish from 40 lakes and rivers. The source of the pollution is thought to be seed treated with mercury.

On September 18, 1966 the tanker Seestern lost 1,700 tons of crude diesel oil which was quickly pushed by winds and tides onto the Medway Estuary, UK, affecting some 8,000 acres of wetlands. An estimated total of 5,000 birds were killed by this oil spill.

The "Anne Mildred Brovig" spills c. 20,000 t oil.

A U.S. B52 bomber collided with KC-135 tanker during mid-air flight refuelling over the coast of Spain. The tanker was completely destroyed in the incident, while the B52 broke apart, spilling four hydrogen bombs from its broken fuselage. The non-nuclear weapons in two of the bombs detonated on impact with the ground, contaminating of a 490 acre area with radioactive plutonium. One of the devices was recovered from the Mediterranean Sea.

On 13 December 1961, the British tanker the Allegrity ran aground off the coast of Caerhays, near Saint Austell in the Channel. 800 tonnes of petroleum were spilled in the incident.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

"Fat Man", a 22 kt atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 immediately.

"Little Boy", an atomic bomb with a 60 kg core of uranium 235, explodes over Hiroshima with the power of 13.5 kt of explosives. By the end of 1945, 140,000 have died as a consequence.

Sewage containing mercury is released by Chisso's chemicals works into Minimata Bay in Japan. The mercury accumulates in sea creatures, leading eventually to mercury poisoning in the population.

The Oppau explosion occurred on September 21, 1921 when a tower silo storing 4,500 tonnes of a mixture of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded at a BASF plant in Oppau, now part of Ludwigshafen, Germany, killing 561 people and injuring about 2,000 more. About 80 percent of all buildings in Oppau were destroyed.