Windscale-1 reactor accident

Burch, P.R.J. (1959) Measurements at Leeds following the Windscale reactor accident. Nature, 182, 515-19. 

Baverstock KF, Vennart J. 1976. Emergency reference levels for reactor accidents A re-examination of the windscale reactor accident. Health Phys 30 339-344. 

Activities of the Isotopes Released from the Windscale Reactor Accident, 1957... 

Ellis, F.B., Howells, H., Russell, R.S. Templeton, W.L. (1960) Deposition of strontium-89 and strontium-90 on agricultural land and their entry into milk after the reactor accident at Windscale. UKAEA Report AHSB(RP)R2. HMSO, London. 

Loutit, J.R., Marley, W.G. Russell, R.S. (1960) The nuclear reactor accident at Windscale, 1957 environmental aspects. In The Hazards to Man of Nuclear and Allied Radiations. Cmnd 1235. HMSO, London. 

The release of 131I and other fission products in reactor accidents has been considered in the previous chapter. In the Windscale accident, the temperature in the fire zone reached an estimated 1300°C and 8 tonne of uranium metal melted. Over 25% of the 1311 in the melted fuel escaped to atmosphere. In the Chernobyl accident, the fuel was U02, the temperature exceeded 2000°C, and about 25% of the total reactor inventory of 131I was released to atmosphere, as vapour or particulate aerosol. In the Three Mile Island accident, 131I remained almost completely in the reactor coolant. The activities of 131I released in reactor accidents, including that at Chernobyl, have totalled much less than the activities released from weapons tests (Table 2.3). 

Public interest in radioactive aerosols began in the mid-1950s, when world-wide fallout of fission products from bomb tests was first observed. The H-bomb test at Bikini Atoll in 1954 had tragic consequences for the Japanese fisherman, and the inhabitants of the Ronge-lap Atoll, who were in the path of the fallout. In 1957, radio-iodine and other fission products, released in the accident to the Windscale reactor, were tracked over much of Europe, and these events were repeated on a much larger scale after the Chernobyl accident. 

Only two earlier reactor accidents caused significant releases or radionuclides the one at Windscale (United Kingdom) in October 1957 and the other at Three Mile Island (United States) in March 1979 (UNSCEAR-1982). While it is very difficult to estimate the fraction of the Windscale radionuclide core inventory that was released to the atmosphere, it has been estimated that the accident released twice the amount of noble gases that was released at Chernobyl, but 2,000 times less and Cs (DOE-1987). The Three Mile Island accident released approximately 2% as much noble gases and 0.00002% as much l as the Chernobyl accident. 

This, the Windscale accident, was for many years the most serious reactor accident it had more radiological consequences than the Three Mile Island accident of 1979. Clearly the accident had the salutary effect of making designers and operators safety conscious in the UK. 

More than 400 civilian power reactors operate in the world today and they have altogether accumulated more than 10000 reactor years of operation. The principal accidents which have occurred are the TMI accident (1979) and the Chernobyl accident (1986). The accident at the experimental Windscale reactor (1957, see Chapter 20) is also an interesting reference for the study of the consequences of serious accidents. 

Radioisotopes from reactor accidents—Windscale, UK, 1957 Chernobyl, USSR, 1986 Large fires—soot, PAHs... 

Among the reactor accidents which have occurred up to the present, Windscale-1 and Chernobyl-4 (see Section 7.4.3.) represent by far the most serious ones with respect to the thyroid burdens to the public as well as to the field contamination of the surrounding areas. In the days and weeks after the Windscale-1 accident, it was possible to measure the released radionuclides in low concentrations even in Norway and in Germany. As was pointed out before, accidents of this type cannot happen in light-water reactors on the other hand, such release values are not to be expected from gas-cooled reactors of modern design, since the fission products in their fuels are confined in graphite-coated fuel elements which are stable even under very high temperatures. 

Windscale, England Accident,at a graphite reactor caused the release of 20,000 Ci of radioiodine Typical, no panic ... 

Accidents with nuclear reactors or nuclear bombs can expose large numbers of people to several decay products of uranium, and iodine isotopes are among the most abundant compounds released in such reactions. It is therefore logical to use salts of stable isotopes of iodine to prevent the accumulation of radioiodine in a person or population at risk of such exposure. The accidents in Windscale (UK), Three Mile Island (USA), and particularly Chernobyl (Ukraine) drew attention to such problems. The major question is therefore whether the potential adverse effects of stable iodine when given indiscriminately to large... 

Nuclear fission provides about 20% of the electricity generated within the UK. Economic womies about the decommissioning of old nuclear stations, and major accidents in Windscale UK (1957), Three Mile Island USA (1979) and Chernobyl Ukraine (1986) have caused many people to question whether or not more nuclear plants should be built. This is a photograph of the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant where an explosion resulted in the world s worst nuclear accident. 

The release of xenon and krypton isotopes at the time of the Windscale accident was not directly measured, but because 4 days intervened between shutdown of the reactor and commencement of the graphite fire during low power running and because most xenon and krypton isotopes have a short radioactive half-life, this component of the activity released would have been small. It is notable that although a search was made for plutonium contamination of the environment after the release, none in fact was found. 

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