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INES and the disturbances in nuclear facilities

1970 – 1979

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INES, Who the f... is INES?

The International Scale of Nuclear and Radiological Events (INES) is a tool to educate the public about the safety implications of nuclear and radiological events, but INES has a problem...

We are always looking for up-to-date information. Anyone who can help, please send a message to:
nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de

2019 - 2010 | 2009 - 2000 | 1999 - 1990 | 1989 - 1980 | 1979 - 1970 | 1969 - 1960 | 1959 - 1950 | 1949 - 1940 | Before

1979

1979 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Doel, BEL

Wikipedia de

The breakage of a steam generator heating pipe resulted in a slight release of radioactivity into the environment. The control of this incident requires the correct handling of complicated procedures by the personnel. The four nuclear power plants in Doel are only 8 km from Antwerp (source: NEA-OECD)

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Doel (Belgium)

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

Humanity has slipped past the catastrophe several times by a hair's breadth. This is revealed by 48 accident reports that were kept secret by the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency: breakdowns, often of the most bizarre, profane kind from the United States and Argentina to Bulgaria and Pakistan ...

September 11, 1979 (INES 4 | NAMS 3,4) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

When radioactive wastewater was transferred to building B242, 130 TBq Plutonium released.
(Cost approx. US$87 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The nuclear chain

Sellafield/Windscale, UK

The largest civilian and military nuclear facility in Europe is in Sellafield. While in the past plutonium was produced here for the British nuclear weapons program, the site now serves as a nuclear waste reprocessing plant. The Great Fire of 1957 and numerous radioactive leaks contaminated the environment and exposed the population to increased levels of radiation...

Slowly but surely, all relevant information about disruptions in the nuclear industry is becoming available from Wikipedia away!

Wikipedia de

Sellafield (formerly Windscale)

The complex was made famous by a catastrophic fire in 1957 and by frequent nuclear incidents, which is one of the reasons why it was renamed Sellafield. Until the mid-1980s, large quantities of the nuclear waste generated in daily operations were discharged in liquid form via a pipeline into the Irish Sea ...

Wikipedia en

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

Between 1950 and 2000 there were 21 serious off-site incidents or accidents involving radiological releases that warranted classification on the International Nuclear Event Scale, one at Level 5, five at Level 4 and fifteen at Level 3. In addition, there were in intentional releases of plutonium and irradiated uranium oxide particles into the atmosphere known for extended periods in the 1950s and 1960s...

Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

During reprocessing, the inventory of spent fuel elements can be separated from one another in a complex chemical process (PUREX). Separated uranium and plutonium can then be reused. As far as the theory...

Youtube - 07:00

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste

All uranium and plutonium factories produce radioactive nuclear waste: uranium processing, enrichment and reprocessing plants, whether in Hanford, La Hague, Sellafield, Mayak, Tokaimura or anywhere in the world, all have the same problem: With every processing step More and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is being produced ...

July 25, 1979 (INES ? Class.?) EL-3, Paris-Saclay, FRA

At the EL3, a reactor moderated and cooled with heavy water, radioactive liquids spilled into the normal waste drains and seeped into the local Paris-Saclay catchment area.
(Cost approx. US$5 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia en

Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator

List of reactor accidents by country#France

July 25, 1979 Saclay, France
At the BL3 reactor in Saclay, radioactive liquids leaked into the drains intended for normal waste and seeped into the local water catchment area.

Wikipedia fr

Translation https://www.DeepL.com/Translator

EL3

(Heavy Water No. 3) is the third French heavy water reactor, which was commissioned in July 1957...

It was a research reactor of the Piscine-Pile2 type, the fuel of EL3 was slightly enriched natural uranium. Heavy water was both the moderator and the coolant carrier of the EL3.

Incidents and accidents

In 1957, a fuel element in the EL3 fuel cell suffered a partial meltdown. The reactor was shut down and the fuel cell hall was evacuated within a few minutes...

July 16, 1979 (INES 3 NAMS 1,9) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

A fire in a remote gutting cave in building B30 resulted in 3,7 TBq Radioactivity released.
(Cost approx. US$30 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The nuclear chain

Sellafield/Windscale, UK

Slowly but surely, all the relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry from Wikipedia away!

Wikipedia de

Sellafield (formerly Windscale)

Wikipedia en

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

Youtube - 07:00

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

March 28, 1979 (INES 5 | NAMS 7,9) NPP Three Mile Island, Harrisburg, USA

There were about 3,7 million TBq Radioactivity released. Equipment failure and operating errors led to a loss of coolant and a partial core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant.
(Cost approx. US$1091 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Harrisburg/Three_Mile_Island_(USA)

Three Mile Island 2 meltdown

What happened on March 28, 1979 at Reactor 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is an example of how easily nuclear accidents can occur through a combination of small technical defects and human error without the need for a natural disaster is ...

The nuclear chain

Three Mile Island, USA

[...] To this day, effective lobbying by the nuclear industry has prevented meaningful scientific analysis of the consequences for the environment and health.

[...] At that time, more than two million people lived within a radius of 80 km. On March 28, 1979, the most serious civil nuclear disaster to date occurred there. An emergency hatch opened to relieve pressure, accidentally releasing large amounts of coolant. This led to critical overheating of the reactor core and the infamous core meltdown. The reactor's protective casing withstood the enormous pressure, but for several days large amounts of radioactive particles escaped into the atmosphere and contaminated the surrounding area in the form of radioactive fallout...

Wikipedia de

Reactor accident_im_nuclear power plant_Three_Mile_Island

Reactor accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant

The reactor accident in the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) in the USA on March 28, 1979 was a serious accident (INES level 5), in which there was a partial core meltdown in reactor block 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, in which about a third of the reactor core was fragmented or melted...

Venting to the environment

... by venting into the atmosphere. It is estimated that radioactive gas (in the form of krypton-85; 10,75 year half-life) with an activity of about 1,665 × 10 was released during the incident¹⁵ Bq ...

1978

December 31, 1978 (INES 4) NPP Beloyarsk, USSR

Wikipedia de

Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents Unit 2

On 30/31 In December 1978 the temperature in the area fell to −50 °C. On the following New Year's Eve, the low temperatures caused a serious incident that almost turned into a catastrophe. The roof of the turbine hall collapsed due to material fatigue. Parts fell on the generator and a short circuit occurred, which caused a fire in the turbine hall. Measuring lines to the reactor were partially destroyed. Burning oil made it difficult for firefighters to bring the fire under control. In order to prevent a catastrophe, the reactor had to be shut down. Thick smoke entered the control room, so that the operating staff had to leave the control room temporarily and could only re-enter it for a short time in order to carry out some switching operations. In the first few hours, fear of the consequences, efforts were made to evacuate the nearby workers' town of Zarechny. Attempts have already been made to organize many buses and trains for the evacuation in the Sverdlovsk Oblast.

Eight people were severely radioactive, almost two dozen were temporarily unconscious from the smoke gas, but after a few hours the reactors were under control again...

Wikipedia en

Nuclear power accidents by country#Russia

Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Beloyarsk (Russia)

From 1964 to 1979 there was a series of events in Beloyarsk-1 in which fuel channels were destroyed and workers were exposed to increased levels of radiation. In 1977, 50% of the fuel assemblies at Beloyarsk-2 melted down; the staff were exposed to high levels of radioactivity. In a fire that broke out on December 31, 1978 due to a falling cover plate, eight people suffered an increased radiation dose.

Various incidents during breeder operation were also reported in the 1990s ...

June 18, 1978 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Brunsbuettel, Germany

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Brunsbuettel_(Schleswig-Holstein)

On June 18, 1978, two tons of radioactive vapor escaped to the outside due to a leak in the live steam system. The incident lasted more than two hours. The security team had tampered with the automatic emergency shutdown in order to save the operator millions in losses. Vattenfall covered up the incident for days until an anonymous caller informed the public. The plant was idle for more than two years after the incident...

Wikipedia de

Brunsbüttel#Malfunctions

Incidents and reportable events

As of March 31, 2016, there have been 447 reportable events since commissioning, two of which involved increased radioactivity emissions ...

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

May 13, 1978 (INES ? Class.?) AVR Jülich, GER

Wikipedia de

Pebble bed reactor AVR (Jülich)

A water inrush accident in the Jülich experimental reactor, which was only assigned to the lowest category C at the time, led to a high level of contamination of the cooling circuit and the soil and groundwater under the reactor with strontium-90 and tritium. Critics of the pebble bed reactor concept assume that the far too favorable classification of this event as insignificant in terms of safety from today's perspective served to preserve the development chances of pebble bed reactors ...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Jülich (North Rhine-Westphalia)

On May 13, 1978, a serious incident occurred. Water leaked into the reactor due to a leak in a heat exchanger. This had an impact on the demolition of the reactor, because it still contained "197 destroyed or atomized fuel elements", which were then embedded in concrete. Large amounts of strontium-90 and tritium are said to have escaped during the incident and got into the groundwater. Despite this, the reactor continued to operate at an excessively high temperature...

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

1977

September 24, 1977 (INES 3) NPP Davis Besse, USA

A pressure relief valve opened in the primary circuit and steam escaped.
(Cost approx. US$26,8 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia de

Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents

On September 24, 1977, a pressure relief valve in the primary circuit opened, causing steam to escape. The control room staff was unable to bring the situation under control for a long time. There was a risk that the core of the reactor could have been exposed and overheated due to the severe loss of coolant. Before this happened, the valve could be closed again. A few years later, the accident was assigned Category 3 on the International Nuclear Event Rating Scale...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Davis Besse (USA)

Of the three originally planned units, each with a net output of 906 MW, which the Toledo Edison Company ordered from Babcock & Wilcox in 1968 and 1973, only Davis-Besse-1 was built; the other two units were abandoned in 1980...

June 10, 1977 (INES Class.?) NPP Millstone, Waterford, USA

A hydrogen explosion damaged three buildings and forced the shutdown of the Millstone-1 reactor.
(Cost approx. US$17 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Millstone

On November 12, 1976, an unintentional chain reaction in the Millstone-1 reactor and an emergency shutdown occurred during a shutdown test due to a negligently withdrawn control rod.

On June 10, 1977, a hydrogen explosion occurred at Millstone-1; the reactor was shut down.

On February 20, 1996, Millstone-1 and -2 had to be shut down after a leak; estimated cost: $298 million.

In December 1997, the NRC fined the operator $2,1 million for poor safety culture...

Wikipedia de

The Wikipedia article contains no reference to the hydrogen explosion of June 10, 1977.

Millstone Nuclear Power Plant

Wikipedia en

Millstone Nuclear Power Plant

Millstone is the only nuclear power plant in the US state of Connecticut. It is situated on, and named after, a former quarry on the Atlantic Ocean's Niantic Bay in the City of Waterford. It consists of three reactors, one decommissioned boiling water reactor and two active pressurized water reactor units...

Nuclear power accidents by country#United_States

Hydrogen gas explosion damages three buildings and forces shutdown of Millstone-1 boiling water reactor

Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

February 22, 1977 (INES 4) NPP Jaslovské Bohunice, SVK

A mechanical failure in the fuel loading of the KS 150 reactor caused severe corrosion and
released radioactivity in the plant area, necessitating a complete shutdown.
(Cost approx. US$1965 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia de

Bohunice nuclear power plant

On February 22, 1977, the plant was severely damaged while being refilled with fuel rods: In the accident, forgotten remnants of the silica gel drying agent included in the packaging led to blockages on a fuel element, so that the coolant could not flow through properly and local overheating occurred. The pressure tube, as well as surrounding technological channels, were damaged. Heavy water entered the gas cooling circuit. Due to the rapid rise in temperature, the coating of the fuel rods in the active zone was damaged. Due to the failure of this barrier, the primary area was contaminated and then parts of the secondary area due to leaks in the steam generators. It was already clear in the first half of 1978 that operations would not be resumed for economic and technical reasons. The federal government decided in 1979 not to resume operations and to shut down the reactor unit ...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Bohunice (Slovakia)

...Even more dangerous was a partial meltdown on February 22, 1977, which was rated as an INES level 4 accident. The cause of the accident was that "the packing and moisture absorption material silica gel had not been removed from a fuel element and then blocked the cooling channel." Radioactive radiation was released into the environment along with the water vapor. This was only the latest in a long series of incidents at this reactor. According to a statement by the German government in 1994, due to the incidents, "a large part of the plant and the reactor building was contaminated." The reactor was shut down forever on the day of the major accident in 1977...

January 13, 1977 (INES Class.?) NPP Gundremmingen, GER

Due to the unclear situation (?), no INES level was assigned to this incident!

'Gar Nothing' provides detailed information

January 13, 1977 - The entire reactor of the Gundremmingen A nuclear power plant is destroyed in an accident. The weather is damp and cold. Freezing rain and hoarfrost caused the insulators on two high-voltage lines to break. Short circuits occur. An automatic quick shutdown is then initiated.

However, several parts of the system are not functioning properly. Due to incorrect control, too much water is forced into the reactor for emergency cooling.

According to various sources, between 200 m³ and 400 m³ of radioactive cooling water (approx. 280 degrees Celsius) enter the reactor building through pressure relief valves.

After about ten minutes the water is about three meters high and the temperature has risen to around 80 degrees Celsius. It should be taken into account here that this is cooling water that had recently flown around fuel rods with porous casings in the containment. Therefore, this water contains the entire range of radioactive isotopes that were created there during operation...

Wikipedia de

Nuclear power plant Gundremmingen

Initially it was said that the reactor would be able to go back into operation in a few weeks. After the incident, the operators expected Unit A to be put back into operation quickly...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Gundremmingen A (Bavaria)

... But then the TÜV discovered cracks in the pipes of the cooling circuit and demanded that parts of the reactor be replaced. This was too expensive for the companies, which is why they decided in 1980 to shut down Gundremmingen A forever...

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

January 1, 1977 (INES 5) NPP Beloyarsk, USSR

A partial core meltdown occurred in Unit 2 and repairs took more than a year...
(Cost approx. US$3500 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Slowly but surely, all relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry is being removed from Wikipedia away!

Wikipedia de

Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents Unit 2

In Unit 1977, in 2, half of the fuel assemblies in the active zone were destroyed...

List of accidents in nuclear facilities #1970s

In an accident, 50% of the fuel passages of Unit 2 of the Beloyarsk NPP, a pressure tube reactor similar to the RBMK, melted. The repair took about a year. The staff was exposed to high levels of radiation.

Wikipedia en

Nuclear power accidents by country#Russia

Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Beloyarsk (Russia)

From 1964 to 1979 there was a series of events in which fuel ducts at Beloyarsk-1 were destroyed and workers were exposed to increased radiation. In 1977, 50% of the fuel in Beloyarsk-2 melted; the personnel were exposed to high levels of radioactivity. The repair work took about a year. The incident was classified as a serious INES level 5 accident. In a fire that broke out due to a falling cover plate on December 31, 1978, eight people suffered an increased dose of radiation...

Various incidents during breeder operation were also reported in the 1990s ...

1976

January 5, 1976 (INES 3) NPP Jaslovské Bohunice, SVK

Two workers suffocated due to carbon dioxide escaping from the reactor cooling system of a KS 150 in the Bohunice nuclear power plant.
(Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia de

Bohunice nuclear power plant

On January 5, 1976, radioactively contaminated coolant leaked into the reactor hall. The fuel elements were usually changed under full operation. After replacing a fuel element, it became detached in the pressure tube, shot up out of the reactor into the reactor hall and smashed on the crane standing above the reactor. The pressurized carbon dioxide used as coolant flowed through the open channel into the reactor space. Although the operating team managed to seal the open channel with the loading crane, two employees could not save themselves in time and suffocated.

[...] the incident in 1976 is listed as a serious incident (INES 3).

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Czechia - Slovakia - Bohunice

In the former Czechoslovakia, energy policy since the 1950s has envisaged the use and expansion of nuclear power. The first gas-cooled reactor, which was put into operation in Jaslovské Bohunice (today's Slovakia) in 1972, failed in 1976 due to two serious accidents. As a result, Soviet light water reactor types were adopted, and Czech industry became involved as a supplier in the production of most reactor components in Eastern Europe.

In today's Czech Republic, six reactors provide electricity: two in Temelín near České Budějovice and four in Dukovany near Brno...

1975

December 7, 1975 (INES 3) NPP Greifswald, GDR

An electrical fault caused a fire in the main sump, destroying control lines and 5 main coolant pumps.
(Cost approx. US$519 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Greifswald/Lubmin (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)

"It was like a miracle," said a safety engineer employed at the time, that "large parts of northern Germany, Denmark and Sweden" were not contaminated with radioactivity." A cable network caught fire due to an operating error. All protection systems failed: the emergency power supply, the emergency cooling system and the display devices in the control room. 11 pumps were no longer running, and it was only because the twelfth pump happened to be connected to the power supply of the functioning reactor 2 that there was enough cooling water available and a core meltdown was avoided. This near-meltdown was consistently kept secret by the GDR leadership until the fall of the Wall.

In "tagesschau.de" the date was given as December 7, 1975 and damages amounting to 519 million US dollars...

Wikipedia de

Greifswald nuclear power plant

When an electrician at the Greifswald nuclear power plant wanted to show an apprentice how to bridge electrical circuits, he triggered a short circuit on the primary side of the Unit 1 transformer. The resulting arc caused a cable fire to break out. The fire in the main cable duct destroyed the power supply and control lines of 5 main coolant pumps (6 are operational for one block). A meltdown could have threatened because reactor 1 could no longer be properly cooled. However, the fire was quickly brought under control by the company fire brigade and the power supply to the pumps was provisionally restored.

The case was only made public after the fall of communism in 1989...

Wikipedia en

Nuclear power accidents by country#Germany

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November 30, 1975 (INES 5) NPP Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad, USSR

There was a loss of coolant in a fuel channel of Unit 1, which led to the decomposition of a fuel element
fuel element and resulted in a significant radiation release that lasted for a month.
(release approx. 55000 TBq, cost approx. 99,5 million US$)

Nuclear Power Accidents

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Leningrad nuclear power plant (Russia)

In 1975, the core of the reactor was partially destroyed, after which 1,5 million curies of radioactive substances were released into the environment ...

Wikipedia de

Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant

Soon after, in October 1975, the next accident occurred in Unit 1 of the power plant. Several fuel elements melted and the reactor core was partially destroyed; however, the graphite moderator blocks did not catch fire. As in the Windscale fire, attempts were made to counteract the fire risk by pumping an emergency reserve of nitrogen through the reactor core and then releasing it together with the approximately 1,5 Megacurie (55 PBq = 55000 TBq) of gaseous fission products were vented through the exhaust chimney.

List of accidents in nuclear facilities #1970s

In October 1975, the reactor core in Unit 1 of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant was partially destroyed. The reactor was shut down. The next day, the core was cleaned by pumping an emergency reserve of nitrogen through it and blowing it out through the exhaust chimney. This released about 1,5 megacuries (55 PBq) of radioactive substances into the environment. (INES: 4–5)

Wikipedia en

Nuclear power accidents by country#Russia

Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

November 19, 1975 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Gundremmingen, GER

2 workers died. Due to the "unclear situation", no INES level was assigned to this incident!

Wikipedia de

Nuclear power plant Gundremmingen

In November 1975 there was an accident in which people died in a nuclear power plant for the first time in the Federal Republic of Germany (Spiegel). Two metal workers, Otto Huber, 34, and Josef Ziegelmüller, 46, had dismantled the cover of a valve on the primary water cleaning circuit of Block A at 19:1975 a.m. on November 10, 42, in order to replace a faulty stuffing box. Before this, the reactor had been shut down and depressurized at around six o'clock. The workers had isolated the line in which the defective valve was located from the system using two shut-off valves upstream and downstream. The valve cover unexpectedly burst off when it was loosened. Unnoticed, this part of the line contained pressurized water with a pressure of 65 bar and around 265 °C, which partially evaporated when the cover burst off, suddenly scalding the two workers. While Huber died immediately, Ziegelmüller tried to run to the personnel lock, but also collapsed in pain shortly before it. Shortly afterwards, Ziegelmüller was taken by helicopter to a Ludwigshafen special burns clinic and died one day later...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Gundremmingen A (Bavaria)

In 1975, two master locksmiths died during a repair due to severe scalding caused by leaked radioactive steam...

'Gar Nix' provides further information

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

22 March 1975 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Browns Ferry, Alabama, USA

A fire burned for seven hours and damaged more than 1.600 control cables for two of the three reactors, knocking out the cooling systems.
(Cost approx. US$281 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia de

Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant#Brand_1975

Brand 1975

On March 22, 1975, a technician was walking around the power plant with a candle while looking for an air leak. The foam used to protect the wiring caught fire, causing a cable fire. The fire on the other side of the wall (from the point of view of the ignition) was not detected until significant damage had occurred to cables related to the control of units 1 and 2. In unit 2, only one emergency cooling system was still working to shut down the plant, and none at all in unit 1: the power supply to the pumps in all of these systems had been paralyzed by the fire. In an emergency, two so-called condensate pumps (a normal operating system that is not really qualified for emergencies) in unit 1 could be restarted, whose power supply was not affected by the fire because of their location at the back of the turbine hall, and - after the reactor was shut down - used to dissipate the residual heat. Around five hours later, another problem arose in unit 1: the pressure relief valves of the reactor system stopped working. The fact that an accident did not occur relatively quickly was due to the fact that the residual heat had already been dissipated for five hours, meaning that the core had already cooled down somewhat. This gave them enough time to fix the defect in the electronics...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Brown's Ferry (USA)

Major fire in 1975 and other incidents

A highly dangerous situation developed on March 22, 1975 between 12.15:20 p.m. and 1963 p.m. A worker had gone looking for leaks with a candle (!) in order to seal them and ignited polyurethane foam. The foam had already been recognized as dangerous in XNUMX and banned, which was ignored by the crew. The fire that followed quickly spread and destroyed all of the safety-related pipes. Due to a "chain of negligence, inadequacies and faulty planning," the entire safety system got out of control. All displays of nuclear processes, all electrical circuits, the main water pump and the emergency cooling system failed. Fortunately, the cooling water level could be maintained with low-pressure pumps. The reactor was finally shut down. The fire was only extinguished after seven hours. It was only with a lot of luck that a catastrophe was prevented...

1974

May 18, 1974 - India's first atomic bomb test Pokhran, IND

Since 1945, there have been over 2050 nuclear weapons tests worldwide...

Wikipedia de

Operation Smiling Buddha

The atomic bomb had an explosive force of about 8 kilotons of TNT equivalent and was detonated for test purposes on May 18, 1974 at a depth of 107 m on the army grounds near Pokhran (Rajasthan) in the Thar Desert...

Nuclear energy in India

The state-run development and expansion of nuclear energy in India began in the 1950s. India has been an official nuclear power since 1974.

In 1948, physicist Homi Jehangir Bhabha became head of the newly established Indian Atomic Energy Commission. On January 20, 1957, the Atomic Energy Establishment Trombay (AEET) was founded by the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and later renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Another major nuclear research facility is the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu...

Nuclear Energy in India#Military_Use

Indian nuclear physicists and engineers acquired their first knowledge of the construction of nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons through technology transfer from Canada and the United States. In 1956, Canada delivered the first experimental reactor for civilian use to India. In the following years, the reactor, which had been "critical" since 1960, also supplied the plutonium needed to build the atomic bomb. Construction of the first nuclear power plant at Rawatbata in Rajasthan began in 1964 with Canadian support. However, Canada and the United States ended their cooperation with India in the field of nuclear energy after the explosion of the first Indian atomic bomb in May 1974...

List of nuclear weapons tests

Chronological, incomplete list of nuclear weapons tests. The table contains only significant points in the history of the detonation of an atomic bomb for test purposes...

Atomwaffen A-Z

Nuclear weapon state India

The exact number of Indian nuclear weapons is not known. It is estimated by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (Nuclear Notebook - 2017) and SIPRI that India has 130 to 140 nuclear warheads and enough fissile materials to produce up to 200 nuclear weapons. India has been in the process of modernizing its arsenal for several years. At least four new systems are currently in development. India is also building two new plutonium production facilities.

There are currently seven nuclear-capable systems in service: two air-based, four land-based and one sea-based. The development program is well advanced, and new long-range land- and sea-based missiles are expected to be deployed within the next decade...

February 6, 1974 (INES 4-5) Akw Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad, USSR

The secondary cooling circuit of Unit 1 broke and released contaminated water into the environment
(Cost approx. US$11,4 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia de

Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant#Incidents and Dangers

Incidents and dangers

The first accident occurred on February 6, 1974, in the first year of operation. In unit 1, the heat exchanger broke due to boiling water. Radioactive water from the primary circuit was released into the environment along with highly radioactive filter sludge. Three people died as a result of burns caused by boiling water. (INES: 4–5)...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Leningrad (Russia)

Nuclear power plant near Saint Petersburg

The Leningrad nuclear power plant, also known as Sosnovy Bor, is one of the most fault-prone plants in Russia. It is only about 5 km from Sosnovy Bor and 70 km from the megacity of St. Petersburg...

1974: Serious accidents of INES level 4-5

Shortly after commissioning, two serious accidents occurred at the reactor, both of which were classified as INES levels 4-5 (accident/serious accident).

After a gas container that was supposed to retain radioactive gases was destroyed on January 7, 1974, a serious accident occurred shortly afterwards. On February 6, 1974, the reactor's intermediate circuit broke because it contained unintentionally boiling water. Three employees died, highly radioactive water and radioactive sludge from filter powder were released into the environment...

1973

September 26, 1973 (INES 4 | NAMS 2) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

It was 5,4 TBq Radioactivity released. An exothermic reaction between accumulated zirconium and a solvent occurred in a container at the processing plant, exposing 35 workers to increased levels of radiation.
(Cost approx. US$990 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The nuclear chain

Sellafield/Windscale, UK

Slowly but surely, all the relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry from Wikipedia away!

Wikipedia de

Sellafield (formerly Windscale)

The complex was made famous by a catastrophic fire in 1957 and by frequent nuclear incidents, which is one of the reasons why it was renamed Sellafield. Up until the mid-1980s, large quantities of the nuclear waste generated in day-to-day operations were discharged in liquid form via a pipeline into the Irish Sea.

Wikipedia en

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

Youtube - 07:00

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste

1972

December 21, 1972 (INES ? Class.?) Pawling, NY, USA

Physics Today

Appendix from Physics Today: Special Accidents.

Here is the part about UNC, Pawling:

In December 1972, a fire and two explosions occurred at the Gulf United Nuclear Corporation plant near Pawling, New York, where plutonium fuel for fast breeder reactors was manufactured. An undetermined amount of Pu was scattered outside the plant premises, so the event can hardly be less than INES level 4. A NAMS event of magnitude 4,0 would be triggered by the release of only 10 g of 239Pu and 240Pu into the atmosphere; since the fire and explosions were so severe that the plant had to be closed, it is likely that the release could have been one or two orders of magnitude greater than this weight of Pu. In addition, the incidence of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in Pawling appears to be 3 in a town of 5000, while the expected rate is 1-2 per 100. The CML Wikipedia website states, "The only well-described risk factor for CML is exposure to ionizing radiation." So the cluster of CML cases at Pawling suggests that at least one serious release occurred at the plant...

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Poughkeepsie Journal

Explosion '72 stoked fears about Nuclear Lake

In December 1972, a chemical explosion in a building at the United Nuclear Corp. complex at Nuclear Lake in Pawling caused an unknown amount of radioactive plutonium dust to spread throughout the building and the surrounding shores and woods. The explosion blew out two windows of the experimental nuclear research laboratory located on the lake...

A private research facility, United Nuclear Corp., which had received a government license to conduct experiments with bomb-grade uranium and plutonium, operated at the site from 1958 to 1972.

The explosion reportedly occurred in a "glove box" used by a company employee. These specially designed boxes limit the amount of radiation an employee was exposed to by allowing dangerous experiments to be conducted in a sealed compartment into which only a worker's gloved hands can be inserted.

[...] Following the incident, licensed activities at the site were suspended and a $3 million plutonium cleanup operation was undertaken, which involved removing truckloads of contaminated soil. In 1975, the abandoned site was officially opened for unrestricted use by the federal government...

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Slowly but surely, all the relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry from Wikipedia away!

Wikipedia en

The United Nuclear Corporation (UNC)

was a diversified nuclear mining, development, and application company based in the United States. The company was founded in 1961 as a joint venture between Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, Mallinckrodt Corporation of America, and Nuclear Development Corporation of America, and is best known today as the company behind the Church Rock uranium mill disaster. In 1996, the company was acquired by General Electric and continues to oversee the decommissioning of its former sites...

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December 6, 1972 (INES 3 | NAMS 1,6) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

The processing of fuel elements that had been stored for too short a time resulted in a high iodine content and set 2,2 TBq Radioactivity free.
(Cost approx. US$98 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The nuclear chain

Sellafield/Windscale, UK

Slowly but surely, all the relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry from Wikipedia away!

Wikipedia de

Sellafield (formerly Windscale)

Wikipedia en

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

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AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

Youtube - 07:00

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste

1972 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Santa Maria de Garoña, ESP

Wikipedia de

Nuclear Power Plant_Santa_María_de_Garoña

In the early years of its operation, this boiling water reactor regularly recorded significant excesses of the emission limit values that were still less restrictive at the time (source: IAEA)

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Santa_Maria_de_Garona_(Spain)

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

July 27, 1972 (INES ? Class.?) NPP Surry, VA, USA

Two killed when a steam pipe ruptured.
(Cost approx. US$1,2 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Slowly but surely, all the relevant information about disruptions in the nuclear industry is coming from the German Wikipedia away!

Wikipedia en

Nuclear Power Plant in Surry County in southeastern Virginia...

- On July 27, 1972, two workers were fatally burned after routine valve adjustment resulted in steam escaping through a gap in a vent line.

- On May 8, 1979, FBI agents examined a white crystalline substance that had been poured into 62 fresh fuel assemblies stored at the plant, a day after plant officials made the discovery...

- On December 9, 1986, eight workers were injured in a steam explosion in the non-nuclear part of Unit 2. Four of them later died.

- On April 16, 2011, a tornado struck the power plant's electrical switchgear, disrupting the primary power supply to the power plant's cooling pumps...

- On August 23, 2011, an earthquake in central Virginia automatically shut down Dominion's North Anna reactors 11 miles from the epicenter...

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AtomkraftwerkePlag

Surry_(USA)

On November 6, 2015, Dominium applied to the NRC for a lifetime extension to 1 years for Surry-2 and -80 to 2052 and 2053. Lifetimes of 80 years are currently the subject of controversy in the USA; Various nuclear experts doubt that safe operation can be guaranteed with such runtimes ...

SPIEGEL report on hidden nuclear power plant incidents around the world

»A cold shiver runs down my spine«

1971

March 19, 1971 (INES 3 | NAMS 2) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

The sparks from an electric arc ignited radioactive waste in a basement, causing 4,8 TBq Radioactivity was released.
(Cost approx. US$1330 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The nuclear chain

Sellafield/Windscale, UK

Slowly but surely, all the relevant information on disruptions in the nuclear industry from Wikipedia away!

Wikipedia de

Sellafield (formerly Windscale)

Wikipedia en

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

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AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

Youtube - 07:00

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste

1970

November 29, 1970 (INES 3 NAMS 2,5) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

Approx. 1,6 TBq of plutonium was released via the chimney of building B230.
(Cost approx. US$100 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The nuclear chain

Sellafield/Windscale, UK

This incident and several other releases of radioactivity can no longer be found in Wikipedia.

Wikipedia de

Sellafield (formerly Windscale)

Wikipedia en

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

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AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom

According to the operator Sellafield Ltd., since April 2016 a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) on behalf of the British government, reprocessing work at Sellafield will be completed in 2020. A transformation program has been initiated which aims to decontaminate Sellafield, reduce the hazard situation and reduce costs.

According to an October 2018 report, the decommissioning of Sellafield is scheduled to be completed by 2120. Estimated to cost £121bn...

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

Youtube - 07:00

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste

June 8, 1970 (INES 4 NAMS 3,6) Nuclear factory LLNL, Livermore, USA

Approximately 10700 people were killed in this accident TBq released, the wind blew the cloud mainly in a southeasterly direction. Radiation levels were measured 200 miles away.
(Cost approx. US$60,1 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Watching out for the ecology of Livermore

Livermore Eco Watchdogs (This domain is no longer available.)

Historical Doses To The Public from Routine and Accidental Releases of Tritium

During its fifty-three years of operation, estimates were made at the Livermore site of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 29300 TBq tritium released into the atmosphere; about 75% of it was accidentally released as gaseous tritium in 1965 and 1970. Routine emissions contributed just over 3700 TBq gaseous tritium and approximately 2800 TBq tritiated water vapor to the total dose at...

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The largest release in LLNL history occurred on January 20, 1965 and was 13000 TBq.

USE OF TRITIUM AT LIVERMORE LABORATORY:

Tritium and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Two of the three largest tritium accidents I have ever seen documented occurred here at the Livermore Lab headquarters. In 1965 and 1970, the Livermore Lab released approximately 650000 Curies (23.700 TBq) Tritium released into the air from the chimneys of the tritium plant (Building 331).

Note: One curie corresponds to 37 billion radioactive decay processes per second, in becquerels 37 GBq.

After the 1970 accident, Livermore Labs scientists found elevated levels of tritium, which they linked to the 1970 accident, as far south as Fresno, about 200 miles southeast.

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Unfortunately there is in German Wikipedia no information on these incidents.

Wikipedia de

Lawrence_Livermore_National_Laboratory

Wikipedia en

In the English Wikipedia there is only the usual court reporting.

/Lawrence_Livermore_National_Laboratory#Public_protests

Public protests

The Livermore Action Group organized numerous mass protests against the production of nuclear weapons by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1981 to 1984. On June 22, 1982, more than 1300 anti-nuclear weapons activists were arrested during a non-violent demonstration. More recently, there have been annual protests against nuclear weapons research in Lawrence Livermore. In August 2003, 1000 people protested against "new generation nuclear warheads" at Livermore Labs. 2007 people were arrested during the 64 protests. In March 2008, more than 80 people were arrested while protesting outside the gates.

On July 27, 2021, the Society of Professionals, Scientists, and Engineers - University of Professional & Technical Employees Local 11, CWA Local 9119 went on a three-day strike over unfair labor practices.

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April 11-12, 1970 (Broken Arrow) Submarine K-8 sunk in Bay of Biscay

The Soviet nuclear submarine K-8 sank in the Bay of Biscay on the night of April 11-12, 1970, killing 52 sailors. Since then, 2 nuclear reactors and about 20 nuclear torpedoes have been lying at a depth of 4300 m...
(Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia de

K-8 (submarine)

The K-8 was a Cold War-era nuclear submarine of the Soviet Navy. It was the second nuclear submarine that the Soviet Union had commissioned to build under the name Project 627A. Its sinking in 1970 was the Soviet nuclear navy's first loss.

[...] Sinking in 1970

On April 8, 1970, the 51st day of this mission, the boat was still on the return journey in the Bay of Biscay. It was at a depth of 120 meters and traveling at 10 knots when cable fires occurred almost simultaneously at the sonar station in Department 3 and a control station in Department 7, presumably due to short circuits. The commander had K-8 show up immediately. In Department 3, the crew was able to quickly extinguish the fire, but had to leave the department because of the toxic fumes released during the fire. In Department 7, the fire was now also fueled by the lubricating oils used there, so it could not be extinguished and the sailors also had to evacuate the department. After the two nuclear reactors were switched off, it took another 40 minutes before the fire in Department 7 was extinguished by the deprivation of oxygen as a result of the isolation.

[...] At around 22:30 p.m. on April 11, the situation became critical and more sailors were taken to a rescue ship. All attempts to tow the boat failed due to the heavy seas. 22 remaining crew members, led by the captain, tried to save the boat. A short time later, a single red flare was visible, then K-8 disappeared into the darkness from the rescue ship's radar screens. Two severe tremors were felt on the rescue ship, possibly the result of decompression explosions.

A few hours later after sunrise, the supposed site of the sinking was searched and the body of an officer was recovered from the sea. The commander's body was also sighted, but it sank before it could be brought on board. 30 K-8 sailors died as a result of the fires, mostly from carbon monoxide intoxication; The 22-man ship security group around the commander died when the boat sank.
The commander, Captain 2nd Rank Bessonov, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the killed crew members and survivors were also awarded medals. The wreck of K-8 lies at a depth of around 4500 meters...

List of U-boat accidents since 1945

The list of submarine accidents since 1945 documents submarines that were lost or suffered serious damage due to accidents or combat operations since the end of the Second World War (Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945). Of the ships lost, at least nine were nuclear-powered, some armed with nuclear missiles or torpedoes. As far as is known, accidents with radioactive contamination of the environment are also documented...

[...] April 8 - K-8 - Project 627 - Nuclear submarine. Sunk in the Bay of Biscay after a fire broke out on board and an unsuccessful attempt to tow. Four nuclear torpedoes recovered, around 20 more in the wreck or on the seabed at a depth of around 4300 m. Sinking position around 490 km northwest of Spain. A hull crew of 52 sailors who remained on board died in the sinking. 73 survivors were rescued by the recovery ship.

March 10, 1970 (INES 3 | NAMS 2) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

Release of about 18 TBq Plutonium down the chimney of building B230.
(Cost approx. US$150 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The nuclear chain

Sellafield/Windscale, UK

This incident as well as several other releases of radioactivity are in Wikipedia no longer to be found.

Wikipedia de

Sellafield (formerly Windscale)

Wikipedia en

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

Translation with https://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), United Kingdom

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

Youtube - 07:00

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

Reprocessing plants turn a few tons of nuclear waste into many tons of nuclear waste

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