File:Deaths per TWyr for different sources.png

Summary
Common power plant types, listed in order of safety from most deadly to most safe, per unit of energy produced, as of 2016.

There are several different sources for this information, all different, but the general visual trend is the same.

ENERGY SOURCE       DEATHS FATAL/TWH     TWH NOTES

- - - --- - Coal – world avg. 2,200,000   244.00   9,000 (10% world energy, 41% of electricity.) Coal – China     1,300,000    325.00   4,000  Utilizing heavily-manual practices

Coal – USA                     10.00         Mostly open-pit and u/g machine Oil              2,400,000     52.00  42,000 (40% of world energy, 4.4% of electricity) Natural Gas        300,000     20.00  15,000 (15% of world energy, 11% of electricity)

Biofuel/Biomass                50.00 Peat                           50.00 Solar (rooftop)         12      0.1      110  (1.0% of world electricity) Wind                   105      0.15     700  (2.8% of world electricity)

Hydro                  400      0.10   4,000 (EU deaths, 2.2% of world energy) Hydro + Banqiao)     4,000      1.00   4,000 (~4000 TWh/yr + 171,000 Banqiao dead) Nuclear                 104      0.04   2,600 (3% of world energy, 10% of electricity)

- - - --- - World            5,000,000     47    105,000 Terawatt-hours Unaccounted for     95,400             1,500 TWh = 6.00% … fatalities prorated


 * Source: Update of Death per Terawatt hour by Energy Source, Brian L. Wang, June 03, 2016
 * Similar sources:
 * Older version: Deaths per TWH by energy source, Brian L. Wang, March 13, 2011
 * Lifetime version: Lifetime deaths per TWH from energy sources, Brian L. Wang, March 28, 2011
 * Forbes: How Deadly Is Your Kilowatt? We Rank The Killer Energy Sources, James Conca, JUN 10, 2012
 * Economic Analysis of Various Options of Electricity Generation - Taking into Account Health and Environmental Effects, Nils Starfelt and Carl-Erik Wikdahl
 * Diagram 3 "Mean values of health effects, presented as deaths/TWh, for the respective forms of electricity generation throughout the EU", based on the EU ExternE project
 * Wind only: Deaths database, Paul Gipe, 2012
 * Figure 24.11. Death rates of electricity generation technologies. x: European Union estimates by the ExternE project. O: Paul Scherrer Institute.