What are some of the costliest mistakes ever made in history?
Here are some “Costliest Mistakes” ever happened in history.
1. Chornobyl disaster
Cost: $590 billion
The Chornobyl disaster is the worst, most deadly nuclear accident of all time. The worst part is, it occurred due to some totally preventable mistakes. On April 25, 1986, a drill simulating a power outage at Chornobyl led to uncontrolled reactions and a steam fire that burned for nine days.
134 workers were hospitalized due to radiation exposure, and 31 of them died in the following few weeks.
2. Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Cost: $61 billion
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is considered the worst oil spill in history. 210 million gallons of oil were spilled following an explosion on the drilling rig.
Oil threatened marine and wildlife habitats from Louisiana to Florida, and the spill continued for months as workers attempted time and again to stop the flow of oil.
3. Columbia disintegrated on re-entry
Cost: $13 billion
The space shuttle Columbia crash of 2003 will sadly go down in history as another spacecraft accident that should never have happened.
The shuttle was torn apart upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere because of a piece of foam that fell from the shuttle’s external tank, breaching its wing. All seven astronauts on board Columbia were killed.
4. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
Cost: $12 billion
Fukushima Daiichi was a nuclear power plant on the coast of Japan that unfortunately gained worldwide notoriety in March of 2011. An earthquake caused the reactors at the plant to shut down, but it also caused a tsunami.
The tsunami shut down the plant’s backup generator, preventing the necessary cooling process from taking place.
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5. Challenger explosion
Cost: $5.5 billion
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger was scheduled to take off. It was supposed to be the Challenger’s last flight, and the mission included scientific objectives and satellite deployments. Unfortunately, unpredicted temperatures caused a tragic malfunction.
6. Stealth Bomber crashed on takeoff
Cost: $1.4 billion
In 2008, the B-2 stealth bomber was the most expensive plane in the Air Force arsenal. There were only 21 of the bombers made at that time. Despite the plane’s tremendous cost, it could still be brought down by a simple mistake…
7. Russia sold Alaska
Cost: $700 million
In 1867, Alaska was a Russian territory that was rapidly bleeding money. Russian merchants and bureaucrats had found some early financial successes there, but demand for higher salaries among officials was making Alaska more costly than it was worth despite newly discovered gold mines.
8. Crashing the Titanic
Cost: $168 million
Before she set sail on her maiden voyage, the Titanic was known as an unsinkable ship. It was the largest ocean liner built at the time and was specially designed to make the long journey from England to America. Unfortunately, as we all know, the Titanic did not live up to its unsinkable reputation.
9. Mars Climate Orbiter lost
Cost: $193.1 million
The Mars Climate Orbiter was a NASA space probe launched in 1998. It was supposed to orbit Mars and study the red planet’s atmosphere and surface, but due to a miscommunication, it was lost in space forever.
10. Trains too wide for the rail
Cost: $68.4 million
In 2014, French train operator SNCF ordered 2,000 new trains for their lines in Paris and throughout France. Unfortunately, the trains were too wide to fit into the platforms at some of the older stations in France.
The mistake arose because SNCF officials had measured stations built 30 years ago but failed to account for stations that had been built 50 or more years prior when trains were much thinner.
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