Bhopal gas tragedy(chemical&industrial) The Bhopal disaster is the world's worst industrial catastrophe.

It occurred on the night of December 23, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths. Others estimate that 3,000 died within weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. CausesDuring the night of December 23, 1984, water entered a tank containing 42 tons of MIC. The resulting exothermic reaction increased the temperature inside the tank to over 200 C (392 F) and raised the pressure. The tank vented releasing toxic gases into the atmosphere. The gases were blown by northwesterly winds over Bhopal. Factors leading to the magnitude of the gas leak include:

Storing MIC in large tanks and filling beyond recommended levels Poor maintenance after the plant ceased MIC production at the end of 1984 Failure of several safety systems (due to poor maintenance) Safety systems being switched off to save moneyincluding the MIC tank refrigeration system which could have mitigated the disaster severity

The problem was made worse by the mushrooming of slums in the vicinity of the plant, non-existent catastrophe plans, and shortcomings in health care and socioeconomic rehabilitation. Other factors identified by the inquiry included: use of a more dangerous pesticide manufacturing method, large-scale MIC storage, plant location close to a densely populated area, undersized safety devices, and the dependence on manual operations.
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Plant management deficiencies were also identified lack of skilled operators, reduction of safety management, insufficient maintenance, and inadequate emergency action plans.

Equipment and safety regulations

It emerged in 1998, during civil action suits in India, that, unlike Union Carbide plants in the US, its Indian subsidiary plants were not prepared for problems. No action plans had been established to cope with incidents of this magnitude. This included not informing local authorities of the quantities or dangers of chemicals used and manufactured at Bhopal. The MIC tank alarms had not worked for four years. There was only one manual back-up system, compared to a four-stage system used in the US.

The flare tower and the vent gas scrubber had been out of service for five months before the disaster. The gas scrubber therefore did not treat escaping gases with sodium hydroxide, which might have brought the concentration down to a safe level. Even if the scrubber had been working, according to Weir, investigations in the aftermath of the disaster discovered that the maximum pressure it could handle was only one-quarter of that which was present in the accident. Furthermore, the flare tower itself was improperly designed and could only hold one-quarter of the volume of gas that was leaked in 1984. The steam boiler, intended to clean the pipes, was out of action for unknown reasons. Slip-blind plates that would have prevented water from pipes being cleaned from leaking into the MIC tanks through faulty valves were not installed. The water pressure was too weak to spray the escaping gases from the stack. They could not spray high enough to reduce the concentration of escaping gas. According to the operators the pressure gauge of MIC tank had been malfunctioning for roughly a week. Other tanks had been used for that week, rather than repairing the broken one, which was left to "stew". The build-up in temperature and pressure is believed to have affected the magnitude of the gas release. Actually on the night of the incident when it was discovered that water entered the tank, the operators managed to transfer one ton of MIC to the reaction vessel by pressurizing tank 610 hoping to alleviate the problem. Carbon steel valves were used at the factory, even though they corrode when exposed to acid. On the night of the disaster, a leaking carbon steel valve was found, allowing water to enter the MIC tanks. The pipe was not repaired because it was believed it would take too much time and be too expensive.

Timeline, summary
At the plant

21:00 Water cleaning of pipes starts. 22:00 Water enters tank 610, reaction starts. 22:30 Gases are emitted from the vent gas scrubber tower. 00:30 The large siren sounds and is turned off. 00:50 The siren is heard within the plant area. The workers escape.

Outside

22:30 First sensations due to the gases are feltsuffocation, cough, burning eyes and vomiting. 1:00 Police are alerted. Residents of the area evacuate. Union Carbide director denies any leak. 2:00 The first people reached Hamidia Hospital. Symptoms include visual impairment and blindness, respiratory difficulties, frothing at the mouth, and vomiting. 2:10 The alarm is heard outside the plant. 4:00 The gases are brought under control. 7:00 A police loudspeaker broadcasts: "Everything is normal".

Cherynobl disasters(nuclear) The Chernobyl disaster was a well-known nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. It is considered to be the worst nuclear power plant accident in history and is the only level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The disaster occurred on 26 April 1986, 1:23 A.M., at reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant, near the town of Pripyat, during an unauthorized systems test. A sudden power output surge took place, and when an attempt was made at an emergency shutdown, a more extreme spike in power output occurred which led to the rupture of a reactor vessel as well as a series of explosions. This event exposed the graphite moderator components of the reactor to air and they ignited; the resulting fire sent a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive area, including Pripyat. The plume drifted over large parts of the western Soviet Union, and much of Europe. As of December 2000, 350,400 people had been evacuated and resettled from the most severely contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. EffectsThe Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located next to the Pripyat River, which feeds into the Dnipro River reservoir system, one of the largest surface water systems in Europe. The radioactive contamination of aquatic systems therefore became a major issue in the immediate aftermath of the accident. Groundwater was not badly affected by the Chernobyl accident since radio nuclides with short half-lives decayed away long before they could affect groundwater supplies. After the disaster, four square kilometers of pine forest directly downwind of the reactor turned reddish-brown and died, earning the name of the "Red Forest". Some animals in the worst-hit areas also died or stopped reproducing. Some cattle on the same island died and those that survived were stunted because of thyroid damage. The next generation appeared to be normal.