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Windscale fire

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Windscale fire

The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in the United Kingdom's history, and one of the worst in the world, ranked in severity at level 5 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The fire was in Unit 1 of the two-pile Windscale site (now Sellafield) on the north-west coast of England in Cumberland. The two graphite-moderated reactors, referred to at the time as "piles", had been built as part of the British post-war atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No. 1 was operational in October 1950, followed by Pile No. 2 in June 1951. The fire burned for three days and released radioactive fallout which spread across the UK and the rest of Europe. The radioactive isotope iodine-131, which may lead to cancer of the thyroid, was of particular concern at the time. It has since come to light that small but significant amounts of the highly dangerous radioactive isotope polonium-210 were also released. It is estimated that the radiation leak may have caused 240 additional cancer cases, with 100 to 240 of these being fatal. At the time of the incident, no one was evacuated from the surrounding area, but milk from about 500 km2 (190 square miles) of the nearby countryside was diluted and destroyed for about a month due to concerns about its radiation exposure. The UK government played down the events at the time, and reports on the fire were subject to heavy censorship, as Prime Minister Harold Macmillan feared the incident would harm British-American nuclear relations. The event was not an isolated incident; there had been a series of radioactive discharges from the piles in the years leading up to the accident. In early 1957, there had been a leak of radioactive material in which strontium-90 was released into the environment. Like the later fire, this incident was covered up by the British government. Later studies on the release of radioactive material due to the Windscale fire revealed that much of the contamination had resulted from such radiation leaks before the fire. A 2010 study of workers involved in the cleanup of the accident found no significant long-term health effects from their involvement.

Infobox

Date
10 October 1957
Location
Windscale, Seascale, Cumbria, England (now Sellafield)
Coordinates
mw- 54°25′27″N 3°29′54″W / 54.4243°N 3.4982°W / 54.4243; -3.4982
Outcome
INES Level 5 (accident with wider consequences)
Deaths
Estimated 100 to 240 cancer fatalities in the long term[dubious – discuss]
Non-fatal injuries
A maximum of 140 of the estimated 240 additional cases of cancer non-fatal

Tables

Radioactive releases compared (TBq) · Aftermath › Radioactive release
Iodine-131
Iodine-131
Material
Iodine-131
Half life
8.0197 days
Windscale
740
Three Mile Island (compared to Windscale)
much less
Chernobyl
1,760,000
Fukushima Daiichi(atmospheric)
130,000[citation needed]
Caesium-137
Caesium-137
Material
Caesium-137
Half life
30.17 years
Windscale
22
Three Mile Island (compared to Windscale)
much less
Chernobyl
79,500
Fukushima Daiichi(atmospheric)
35,000 [citation needed]
Xenon-133
Xenon-133
Material
Xenon-133
Half life
5.243 days
Windscale
12,000
Chernobyl
6,500,000
Fukushima Daiichi(atmospheric)
17,000,000[citation needed]
Xenon-135
Xenon-135
Material
Xenon-135
Half life
9.2 hours
Three Mile Island (compared to Windscale)
25 × Windscale
Strontium-90
Strontium-90
Material
Strontium-90
Half life
28.79 years
Three Mile Island (compared to Windscale)
much less
Chernobyl
80,000
Plutonium-239
Plutonium-239
Material
Plutonium-239
Half life
24,110 years
Windscale
0.08
Chernobyl
6,100
Polonium-210
Polonium-210
Material
Polonium-210
Half life
138.376 days
Windscale
8.8
Material
Half life
Windscale
Three Mile Island (compared to Windscale)
Chernobyl
Fukushima Daiichi(atmospheric)
Iodine-131
days
740
much less
1,760,000
130,000[citation needed]
Caesium-137
years
22
much less
79,500
35,000 [citation needed]
Xenon-133
days
12,000
6,500,000
17,000,000[citation needed]
Xenon-135
hours
25 × Windscale
Strontium-90
years
much less
80,000
Plutonium-239
24,110 years
0.08
6,100
Polonium-210
days
8.8

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