
Map of the nuclear world	The uranium story
INES, NAMS and the disturbances	Radioactive low radiation?!
Uranium transports through Europe	The ABC deployment concept

INES and the disturbances in nuclear facilities

1950 – 1959

***

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

1959

20 November 1959 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

A chemical explosion released 15 grams of plutonium-239.
(Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents

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

In the Wikipedia article "Oak Ridge National Laboratory" this INES 4 accident is not even mentioned anymore.

Wikipedia de

List of accidents in nuclear facilities

There was a chemical explosion at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory radiological chemical plant in Tennessee during the decontamination of the work facilities. A total of 15 grams of plutonium-239 was released. This caused significant contamination of the building, the adjacent streets and the facades of adjacent buildings during the explosion. The explosion is believed to have been caused by contact of nitric acid with phenolic decontamination fluids. A technician forgot to clean an evaporator with water to clear it of decontamination fluids. Areas that could not be decontaminated were marked with a conspicuous warning color or set in concrete...

July 26, 1959 (INES 6) SNL, Simi Valley, CA, USA

Partial meltdown in the Santa Susana Field Laboratory sodium reactor experiment. There were 1.036 TBq released.
(Cost approx. US$38 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia de

Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory

At the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, which operated a 7,5 MWe sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor, a 30 percent meltdown occurred in that reactor due to a clogged cooling duct. The majority of the fission products could be filtered off. However, most of the radioactive gases were released into the environment, resulting in one of the largest iodine-131 releases in nuclear history. The accident was kept secret for a long time...

accident in 1959

Sodium_Reactor_Experiment#Accident_in_year_1959

... It is very likely that the coolant partially boiled (boiling point of sodium: 883 °C), which allows conclusions to be drawn about the local temperatures. However, the melting temperature of the metallic uranium used as fuel was not reached, only the fuel rod cladding began to turn into a liquid state. The exact date of the damage is unknown, but could be narrowed down to the period between July 12 and 26, 1959.

[...] The incident resulted in a radioactive release of 28 Curie (1.036 TBq) over the fireplace; supposedly a controlled levy spread over two months.

Wikipedia en

Nuclear power accidents by country#United_States

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

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Simi_Valley,_USA_1959

On July 26, 1959, a partial meltdown occurred in the Sodium Reactor Experiment (SRE), a sodium-cooled reactor with an output of 7,5 to 20 MW at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Moorpark, California.

Due to the high heat, 10 of 43 fuel elements were damaged and radioactive substances were released. The reactor was shut down in February 1964...

1958

30 December 1958 (INES 4) Los Alamos, NM, USA

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

This INES 4 incident and all other Los Alamos accidents are dealt with in four sentences.

Wikipedia de

Los Alamos National Laboratory

A criticality accident occurred during extraction work with a solution containing plutonium at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico. The operator died of acute radiation sickness. After this accident, critical mass work in the United States finally switched to the use of manipulators. Until then, despite the criticality accidents in the 1940s, manual handling of plutonium was common.

October 15, 1958 (INES 4) Boris Kidrič Institute, Vinca, SRB

Vinca, Boris Kidrič Institute, YU, SRB

6 workers were exposed to a high dose of radiation, one of whom died a few days later.
(Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents

NTI - Nuclear Threat Initiative

https://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/former-yugoslavia-nuclear/

Yugoslavia worked with Norway in the field of plutonium reprocessing, set up a department for the reprocessing of spent fuel elements in Vinca, signed a cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union in 1956 for the 6,5 MW research reactor RA (heavy water reactor with moderation and cooling) and built the RB, a critical arrangement with heavy water natural uranium at zero output. Described by Vinca officials as "essentially a reactor for producing plutonium," the RA reactor was fundamental to Tito's weapons research.

In the early 1960s, as the nuclear research program gained momentum, Tito reportedly scaled back the weapons aspect of the program. In 1958, a criticality accident at the Vinca heavy water RB reactor killed one person and caused five others to suffer radiation poisoning...

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

May 24, 1958 (INES Class.?) NPP Chalk River, Ontario, CAN

A fuel rod caught fire, contaminating half the facility.
(Cost approx. US$78 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The power of the nuclear lobby. Just as there was no INES classification at that time, this accident is still classified in the German Wikipedia just not mentioned.

Wikipedia en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk_River_Laboratories#1958_NRU_incident

The 1958 accident resulted in a fuel rupture and fire in the reactor building of the National Research Universal Reactor (NRU). Some fuel rods had overheated. Using a robotic crane, one of the rods containing metallic uranium was pulled out of the reactor vessel. As the crane's arm moved away from the reactor vessel, the uranium caught fire and the rod broke. Most of the rod fell into the containment vessel and was still burning. The entire building was contaminated. Ventilation system valves were opened and a large area outside the building was contaminated. The fire was extinguished by scientists and maintenance personnel in protective gear, who ran buckets of wet sand through the hole in the containment and threw the sand down the moment they passed the smoking entrance.

... The Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, an anti-nuclear organization, however, points out that some clean-up workers who were part of the military contingent in the NRU reactor building unsuccessfully applied for a military disability pension due to poor health. Chalk River Laboratories remains an AECL facility to this day and is used both as a research facility (in collaboration with the NRC) and as a manufacturing facility (on behalf of the AECL) in support of other Canadian electric utilities...

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

March 11, 1958 (Broken Arrow) Mars Bluff, South Carolina, USA

Wikipedia en

1958 Mars Bluff B-47 nuclear weapon loss incident

On March 11, 1958, a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-47E-LM Stratojet took off from Hunter Air Force Base, operated by the 375th Bombardment Squadron of the 308th Bombardment Wing, near Savannah, Georgia, at approximately 16 :34 p.m. and was scheduled to fly to Britain and then North Africa as part of Operation Snow Flurry. The plane carried nuclear weapons in case of war with the Soviet Union. Air Force Capt. Bruce Kulka, acting as navigator and bombardier, was called to the bomb bay after the plane's captain, Capt. Earl Koehler, spotted a malfunction light in the cockpit indicating that the bomb harness locking pin was not engaged. As Kulka reached around the bomb to pull himself up, he accidentally grabbed the emergency release pin. The Mark 6 nuclear bomb fell on the B-47's bomb bay doors, and the weight pushed the doors open, causing the bomb to fall 4.600 m (15.000 ft) to the ground...

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

Broken Arrow incidents

The U.S. Department of Defense has officially recognized at least 32 Broken Arrow incidents between 1950 and 1980.

Examples of these events are:

1950 British Columbia B-36 crash
1956 B-47 disappearance
1958 Mars Bluff B-47 nuclear weapon loss incident
1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision
1961 Yuba City B-52 crash
1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash
1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash
1964 Bunker Hill AFB runway accident
1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident
1966 Palomares B-52 crash
1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash
1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion, Arkansas

Unofficially, the Defense Atomic Support Agency (now known as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)) has detailed hundreds of "Broken Arrow" incidents.

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

Wayback Machine en

The OOPS List

A 1973 Sandia Laboratories report, citing a then-classified army compilation, stated that between 1950 and 1968, a total of 1.250 U.S. nuclear weapons were involved in accidents or incidents of varying severity, including 272 (22 percent) in circumstances involving impacts which, in several instances, caused the detonation of the weapon's conventional high explosives...

February 5, 1958 (Broken Arrow) Tybee Island, USA

Wikipedia de

Tybee bomb

The Tybee Bomb is a 3,5 ton Mark 15 hydrogen bomb that was lost on February 5, 1958 near Tybee Island off Savannah, Georgia. After a Boeing B-47 bomber from the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command collided with an F-86 in mid-air during a training flight, the commander had to drop the bomb in order to land the plane safely. It is one of eleven missing US nuclear weapons...

Wikipedia en

Broken Arrow incidents

The U.S. Department of Defense has officially recognized at least 32 Broken Arrow incidents between 1950 and 1980.

Examples of these events are:

Unofficially, the Defense Atomic Support Agency (now known as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)) has detailed hundreds of "Broken Arrow" incidents.

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

Wayback Machine en

The OOPS List

2 January 1958 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR

Three people were killed and a worker was seriously injured in an accident at the Mayak complex.
(Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Over the years, some 235 radioactive incidents occurred, of which only a few were reported...

Wikipedia de

Mayak, January 2, 1958

After a criticality experiment, the uranium solution should be transferred to geometrically safe containers. To save time, the experimenters bypassed the standard decanting procedure, assuming that the remaining solution was far below critical. However, due to the changed geometry during decanting, the presence of the people was sufficient to reflect enough neutrons so that the solution promptly became critical. The solution exploded and three workers received radiation doses of about 60 Gray and died after five to six days. A worker 3 meters away received 6 Gray, survived the acute radiation sickness but suffered from serious sequelae...

The nuclear chain

Mayak/Kyshtym, Russia

Nuclear factory

The Russian nuclear industry plant in Mayak contaminated more than 15.000 km2 with highly radioactive waste products through a series of accidents and radioactive leaks. The Kyshtym accident contaminated a large area of the eastern Ural region in 1957. Thousands of people had to be relocated. To this day, the affected region is one of the most contaminated places on earth.

background objects

AtomkraftwerkePlag

The Mayak plutonium factory

Mayak is located 15 kilometers east of the city of Kyshtym in Chelyabinsk Oblast on the eastern side of the Southern Urals and was an important part of Stalin's plans from 1945 to quickly produce weapons-grade plutonium and to catch up with the Soviet Union in nuclear weapons.

[...] In Mayak, in addition to two reprocessing plants and a factory for the production of metallic plutonium, ten reactors for plutonium production were built...

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

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 ...

1957

October 7th - 12th 1957 (INES 5 | NAMS 4,6) Nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR

A fire ignited plutonium and produced a very large amount of radioactive dust (1786 TBq), which, among other things, forced surrounding dairy farms to give up.
(Cost approx. US$89,9 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

The full extent of the accident and the errors in organization and technology were kept secret for 30 years.

This fire from Windscale in October 1957, classified as a "serious accident" (INES 5), is the only pre-2005 Sellafield accident that has not yet ended Wikipedia has disappeared...

Wikipedia de

Windscale/Sellafield

Since the late 1940's and Windscale/Sellafield's inception, approximately 20 incidents of greater or lesser severity involving the release of radioactivity have been reported. 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.

Windscale brand

In the nuclear reactor Pile No. 1 in Windscale and Sellafield, respectively, technicians heated up the reactor in order to glow the so-called Wigner energy from the graphite serving as a moderator...

The accident is later blamed for dozens of cancer deaths.

Wikipedia en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield

Nuclear power accidents by country#United_Kingdom

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

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Sellafield (formerly_Windscale), UK 1957

Windscale began operations in the 1940s. The site was initially responsible for the inspection and packaging of small arms ammunition and later, aided by its isolated location, for plutonium production for the British nuclear weapons program...

On October 7, 1957, Pile 1 was heated for the ninth time, and initially there were no complications. However, when the temperature did not rise to the required level the following day, the crew decided to heat it up again, causing the reactor to spiral out of control. There was a sudden increase in temperature, which continued over the next few days without being able to be stopped. On October 10, the reactor caught fire and radioactivity was released. All attempts to delete it failed. On October 11, 1957, a maximum temperature of 1.300 °C was reached and a large radioactive cloud containing iodine, cesium, strontium and plutonium spread over the Irish Sea. The reactor was finally cooled with large quantities of water and the fire was extinguished the following day.

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

Youtube

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 wherever in the world, all have the same problem: with every processing step More and more extremely toxic and highly radioactive waste is being produced...

September 29, 1957 (INES 6 | NAMS 7,3) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR

There were about 1 million TBq Radioactivity released. At the spent fuel storage facility at the Majak Scientific-Production Association, heat exchangers in the nitrate storage tank failed, causing a major chemical explosion.
(Cost approx. US$1733 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Over the years, some 235 radioactive incidents occurred, of which only a few were reported...

Wikipedia de

The Kyshtym accident in Mayak

Also known as the Mayak Accident. The reprocessing plant there stored its waste products in large tanks. The radioactive decay of the substances generates heat, which is why these tanks have to be constantly cooled. After the cooling lines of one of these 1956 m³ tanks leaked in the course of 250 and the cooling was therefore switched off, the contents of this tank began to dry out. Triggered by a spark from an internal measuring device, the nitrate salts contained exploded and released large amounts of radioactive substances. Since the contaminated cloud remained close to the ground, the pollution in the area around the Russian Kyshtym was almost double the amount of the Chernobyl accident. Since the contamination was limited to the Urals, measuring devices did not sound the alarm in Europe (see Chernobyl accident), which meant that the accident could be kept secret from the global public for 30 years. (INES level 6)

Wikipedia en

Nuclear power accidents by country#Russia

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

The nuclear chain

Mayak/Kyshtym, Russia

Nuclear factory

background objects

The Mayak production cooperative was the first and, with an area of more than 200 km2, the largest nuclear industrial plant in the Soviet Union. Between 1945 and 1948, five nuclear reactors were built at this site between Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk to produce plutonium for the Soviet nuclear weapons program. The plant was continuously expanded until 1987, when production was stopped and operations were gradually phased out. From 1949 to 1956, a total of 100 peta becquerels (peta = quadrillion) of radioactive waste were discharged into the tributaries of the Techa - including strontium-90, cesium-137, plutonium and uranium.1 For comparison: the radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean by the Super The Fukushima disaster is estimated to be around 78 PBq. In addition, there were at least eight critical accidents in Mayak by 1968. For example, the spread of radioactive dust from the Karachay nuclear waste dump in 1967 led to contamination of over 1.800 km² with cesium-137. The most serious accident occurred in 1957 in Kyshtym, 15 km away, when a container containing 740 PBq of radioactive waste exploded and contaminated an area of more than 15.000 km2. After Chernobyl and Fukushima, this accident is considered the third worst nuclear accident in history (level 6 on the International Nuclear Event Scale INES). The lasting consequence of the catastrophe is the more than 300 km long and 30-50 km wide radioactively contaminated “Eastern Trail”, in which the leukemia-causing substance strontium-90 alone reaches concentrations of up to 7,4 MBq/m2 (mega = million). For comparison: After Chernobyl, areas with more than 0,5 MBq/m2 radiation exposure were declared permanent exclusion zones...

AtomkraftwerkePlag

The Mayak plutonium factory

In 1957, the first major accident occurred in the use of atomic energy, which is comparable in its dimensions to the catastrophes in Fukushima and Chernobyl, but only became known to the world public in 1989.

The Mayak nuclear complex, 15 kilometers east of the city of Kyshtym in Chelyabinsk Oblast on the eastern side of the southern Urals, was an important part of Stalin's 1945 plans to rapidly produce weapons-grade plutonium and close the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons deficit. In 1948 the first reactor was switched on, in 1949 the first atomic bomb was detonated and Stalin had caught up with the USA.

235 radioactive accidents occurred in Mayak with serious consequences for the environment...

Youtube

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

September 11, 1957 (INES 5 | NAMS 2,3) Nuclear factory Rocky Flats, United States

A fire destroyed a plutonium processing plant. It became about 7800 TBq Radioactivity released.
(Cost approx. US$8189 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia de

Rocky Flats

Spontaneous ignition of plutonium occurred in a container containing 600 tons of flammable material. The fire burned 2 tons of the material and released plutonium oxide. By taking soil samples around the facility, it was determined that the area was contaminated with plutonium. Since the operators of the plant refused to initiate investigations, the samples were taken as part of an unofficial investigation...

Youtube

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

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

April 21, 1957 (INES 4) Nuclear factory Mayak, USSR

11 people were exposed to radiation and became ill, one of the workers died 12 days later.
(Costs ?)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Over the years, some 235 radioactive incidents occurred, of which only a few were reported...

Wikipedia de

April 21, 1957: Criticality accident in container with highly enriched uranium

Too much uranium solution had collected in a container in a glove box, making it critical. The container then burst open and parts of the solution ran into the glove box. One worker received a radiation dose of 30 to 46 Gray and died 12 days later. Five other workers in the same room were exposed to over 3 Grays each and subsequently became radiation sick. Five other people received doses of up to 1 Gray.

Wikipedia en

Major accidents at Mayak, 1953–1998

April 21, 1957 - Criticality accident. An operator dies from a radiation dose of over 3000 rad. Five others received doses of 300 to 1.000 rem and suffered temporary radiation poisoning.

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

The nuclear chain

Mayak/Kyshtym, Russia

Nuclear factory

background objects

AtomkraftwerkePlag

The Mayak plutonium factory

Youtube

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

1956

Did I miss something? Was there one of the military known over 2050 nuclear weapons tests or even a previously little-known incident, possibly from the civilian or medical sector?

nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de

Thanks for the tip, Nathan the Orphan!

Wikipedia de

Operation Redwing

Operation Redwing was the thirteenth series of American nuclear weapons tests conducted in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific between May 4 and July 21, 1956. A total of 17 nuclear weapons were tested above ground. The operation was conducted to test powerful thermonuclear nuclear weapons that could not be tested at the Nevada Test Site...

1955

8 December 1955 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Windscale/ Sellafield, GBR

A fire broke out in a silo for radioactive waste in building B247.
(Cost approx. US$1300 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

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

Wikipedia en

Sellafield # Incidents

Radiological releases

Between 1950 and 2000, there were 21 serious incidents or accidents involving off-site 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 Intentional releases of plutonium and irradiated uranium oxide particles into the atmosphere over long periods of time known 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

29 November 1955 (INES 4) EBR-I, NRTS Idaho Falls, USA

Partial meltdown during a coolant flow test.
(Cost approx. US$1500 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Idaho Falls, USA - 1955: Partial meltdown at EBR-1

The first accident occurred in the Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-1). After two years of construction, the fast breeder went into operation in 1951 and had an output of 0,2 MW. According to a 1953 calculation, he created only one new atom for each split atom.

When the EBR-1 was subjected to a performance upgrade test on November 29, 1955, a technician made a fatal error. Using a button, he accidentally pushed a slow-moving control rod (instead of a fast-moving one) into the reactor core. The technician noticed the error immediately, but after just a few seconds half of the radioactive core had melted. The EBR-1 was decommissioned in 1964.

The partial core meltdown was rated level 4 (accident) on the INES scale...

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

Wikipedia de

Idaho National Laboratory

In this Wikipedia article on the INL, the INES 4 incident of November 29, 1955 is not mentioned...

List of accidents in nuclear facilities

November 29, 1955 - At the National Reactor Testing Station Idaho, the EBR-I research reactor suffered a partial meltdown. The core of enriched uranium combined with 2% zirconium melted during tests intended to quickly increase power because fuel tubes warped. Through evaporation of the coolant NaK, the melting fuel was transported into the tubes of the cooling system and fell below criticality, causing the reactor to shut itself down...

In the English Wikipedia doesn't look much better...

Wikipedia en

Nuclear power accidents by country#United_States

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

July 14, 1955 (INES 3) Nuclear factory Windscale/ Sellafield, GBR

A radioactive leak was discovered during clean-up work.
(Cost approx. US$2900 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

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

Wikipedia de

Sellafield

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

The operator Sellafield Ltd. admits that parts of the subsurface at Sellafield are contaminated with radioactive substances such as cesium-137, technetium-99, strontium-90, iodine-129, tritium, carbon-14, plutonium and uranium. It is estimated that nine to 13 million cubic meters are affected by the contamination.

"Children and adolescents from Sellafield are ten times more likely to develop blood cancer than the national average. Traces of plutonium and strontium were found in the teeth of adolescents."

There are comparable nuclear factories all over the world:

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing - facilities and sites

Youtube

Uranium economy: Facilities for processing uranium

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

March 25, 1955 (INES 4 | NAMS 4,3) Nuclear factory Windscale/ Sellafield, GBR

This fire killed around 1000 people TBq Terabecquerel radioactivity released.
(Cost approx. US$4400 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

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

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

1954

February 28, 1954 - Test series with 6 hydrogen bombs on the Atoll Bikini, USA

Wikipedia de

List of nuclear weapons tests

On February 28.02.1954, 6, the first of six hydrogen bomb tests took place within XNUMX weeks near Bikini Atoll, the entire series became known under the name 'Operation Castle'. As a result, 236 people on Rongelap Island suffered from high levels of radiation. The 140 crew members of the Japanese fishing boat were found 23 km from the explosion site 'Lucky Dragon V' heavily irradiated.

Atomwaffen A - Z

nuclear weapon states

There are nine nuclear weapon states but only five are "recognized". The US, Russia, China, France and the UK -- the states that also have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council -- are named in the NPT as "nuclear-armed states" because they detonated nuclear weapons before 1957. However, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea also possess nuclear weapons, although Israel does not admit them, and are therefore not members of the NPT...

1953

Did I miss something? Was there one of the military known over 2050 nuclear weapons tests or even a previously little-known incident, possibly from the civilian or medical sector?

nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de

An armistice agreement has been in force in Korea since July 27, 1953!

1952

December 12, 1952 (INES 5) NPP Chalk River, Ontario, CAN

A hydrogen explosion damaged the interior of the reactor and released 30 kilograms of uranium oxide particles.
(Cost approx. US$53 million)

Nuclear Power Accidents

Wikipedia

Chalk River Laboratories

The first serious reactor accident occurred in the so-called NRX reactor at Chalk River Laboratories near Ottawa, Canada. During a test of the research reactor, the reactor core was destroyed in a partial meltdown due to incorrect operation, misunderstandings between the operator and operating personnel, incorrect status displays in the control room, misjudgments by the operator and hesitant actions. An oxyhydrogen explosion in the reactor core threw the dome of a four-ton helium gas container 1,2 m high, causing it to get stuck in the structure. The explosion killed at least 100 people TBq of fission products released into the atmosphere. Up to four million liters with around 400 TBq Long-lived fission products radioactively contaminated water were pumped from the basement of the reactor containment into a sandy septic tank in order to prevent contamination of the Ottawa River, which is not far away. The damaged reactor core was buried. The later one US President Jimmy Carter, then a nuclear technician in the Navy, helped with the clean-up work that lasted several months ...

NRX reactor#reactor accident

List of accidents in nuclear facilities

Wikipedia en

Nuclear power accidents by country#Canada

AtomkraftwerkePlag

Chalk River, Canada 1952

During an experiment on December 12, 1952, four valves under the reactor were accidentally opened, but they could be closed again. Nevertheless, after opening, some control rods got jammed, the radioactivity increased rapidly, and the pressure vessel lid blew up after an explosion. After misunderstandings by the operating team, the reactor went out of control and the fissile material began to melt. To stop the chain reaction, hundreds of thousands of liters of highly radioactive water were released, which collected in the basement of the reactor. The evacuation of the buildings was initiated. Since only a few control rods were affected and the NRX only had a low output, the reactor calmed down again after a few hours and the damage was limited...

October 3, 1952 - Britain's first atomic bomb test Trimouille Island

Wikipedia de

List of nuclear weapons tests#Britain

Great Britain used test sites in Australia (12 tests), on the Christmas Island (6 attempts) and on Malden Island (3 tries).

The Operation Hurricane was the first British atomic bomb test, on October 3, 1952 on Trimouille Island, one of the 174 small Montebello Islands carried out on the north west coast of Western Australia...

nuclear weapons A - Z

Trimoulle Island - Montebello Islands

The Montebello Islands are located about 100 km northwest of the Australian coast. Britain secretly carried out three nuclear tests here between 1952 and 1956 with the approval of Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies. It is questionable whether Menzies included his cabinet in the decision. The Australian population initially knew nothing about it.

The first British atomic bomb was detonated as part of “Operation Hurricane” on October 3, 1952 at 8 a.m. local time. It was a plutonium bomb with a yield of 25 KT (kilotons) and was detonated on a ship, the HMS Plym. The ship was anchored in a lagoon near Trimouille Island. The plutonium used for the implosion bomb similar to the “Fat Man” bomb was produced at Windscale (later Sellafield) and supplied from Canada. The explosion was ignited below deck and therefore 2,7 meters underwater. It created a crater on the ocean floor that was 6 meters deep and more than 300 meters wide...

1951

Did I miss something? Was there one of the military known over 2050 nuclear weapons tests or even a previously little-known incident, possibly from the civilian or medical sector?

nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de

1950

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950.

February 13, 1950 (Broken Arrow) British Columbia, CAN

Wikipedia de

B-36 crash in British Columbia 1950

On February 13, 1950, the US Air Force Convair B-36 long-range bomber took off on a training flight from Eielson Air Force Base. The destination was the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Wort. Three of the six engines caught fire. The crew released the Mark 4 non-core nuclear bomb on board; it detonated conventionally in the air. The crew jumped out of the plane; Of the 17 crew members, 12 survived. The B36 itself crashed into Mount Kologet in British Columbia...

Wikipedia en

Broken Arrow incidents

The U.S. Department of Defense has officially recognized at least 32 Broken Arrow incidents between 1950 and 1980.

Examples of these events are:

Unofficially, the Defense Atomic Support Agency (now known as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)) has detailed hundreds of "Broken Arrow" incidents.

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

Wayback Machine en

The OOPS List

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

For work on 'THTR circular', 'reaktorpleite.de' and 'Map of the nuclear world' we need up-to-date information, energetic, fresh comrades-in-arms under 100 (;-) and donations. If you can help, please send a message to: info@reaktorpleite.de

Donation appeal

- The THTR circular is published by the 'BI Environmental Protection Hamm' and is financed by donations.

- The THTR circular has meanwhile become a much-noticed information medium. However, there are ongoing costs due to the expansion of the website and the printing of additional information sheets.

- The THTR circular researches and reports in detail. In order for us to be able to do that, we depend on donations. We are happy about every donation!

Donations account: BI Umweltschutz Hamm

Usage: THTR Rundbrief

IBAN: DE31 4105 0095 0000 0394 79

BIC: WELADED1HAM

Sources

Top

***