Assessment of Damages to the Environment Due to Natech Accidents: a Case Study

Abstract

One of the potential triggers for major accidents is natural events, the so-called Natech scenarios. The attention toward these accidents has been growing over the last decades, driven by the increasing frequency of natural events and the severe consequences they can entail. Indeed, serious hazards to human health and the environment arise from major accidents. Besides impacting ecosystems, environmental harm can also pose indirect threats to the population contaminating land, surface water, and groundwater. Extensive research has been conducted on the direct risks to the population originating from fires, explosions, and toxic releases, while the assessment of environmental damages was only marginally considered. The necessity to create a methodology to evaluate damages to the environment is paramount to enable a comprehensive assessment of the risk posed by Natech accidents. The current study seeks to establish a methodological approach to assess consequences for the environment resulting from releases of Light Non-Acqueous Phase Liquids (LNAPLs) caused by Natech accidents on seawater. The methodology is applied to a fictitious case study to demonstrate its applicability and the relevance of the environmental contamination issues. The methods developed in the present study represent a step forward towards a comprehensive Natech risk assessment, paving the way for the inclusion of other environmental compartments.