Assignment 4 section 4 & 5
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Austin Katz
FES6826 Assignment Four Section IV & V
4/15/2022
Windscale Fire Nuclear Disaster, UK 1957
Stage 1 You are the nuclear plant director for the northwestern part of England. You are responsible for all the nuclear power plants and nuclear reactor facilities in that region. This specific plant was in Cumberland County. The plant was called Windscale. The plant consisted of two nuclear reactors. In October, a routine heating of the first reactor’s graphite control blocks lost control. This caused uranium cartridges to rupture thus releasing radioactivity and causing a fire. •
Plan of action.
It is important that as the director you have first responders respond as soon as possible to put out this fire. HAZMA teams should be deployed as well due to the radiation and to determine and confirm this will be in fact a radioactive incident. If there is a confirmed radioactive leak, evacuation must begin. This includes an evacuation
plan for residents in surrounding areas. •
Communication plan
. It is important that you receive constant updates on the status of the plant and its conditions. Depending on the update, you will know what other resources may be needed. The government needs to be notified and made aware of the situation at hand. A public statement should be made by a PIO or you as the director to inform and update the public. Stage 2
You have now been informed that the fire was not able to be contained and lasted 16 hours before it was finally put out. The fire caused roughly 10 tons of radioactive fuel to melt in the reactor’s core. The fire also caused a release of hefty amounts of radioactive iodine into the air. The damage from this may interfere with dairy products in the surrounding areas. •
The damage did not cause for evacuation of the residents in the surrounding areas. The fear of pastures and milk being potentially exposed to radiation will be a concern. In a 500 km span, all milk was diluted and destroyed. Food supplies were also impacted. The director alongside the government needs to work with surrounding cities for aid in transporting food to the impacted area. •
Communication with the government is imperative for recovery. There should be contact
with the public to warn them about potential contamination and how to avoid radioactive exposure. Key Issues Raised by this Case Study
There really should not be any residential neighborhoods or pastures in a good distance from a nuclear plant. There should also be some sort of safety measures put in place so that the graphite control blocks do not “lose control.” Items to Note
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The British government released very hot and cold/incomplete details of the accident that occurred. It was looked at as if the government was trying to minimize how serious this accident
was. The cleanup took over 50 years to complete. References
Arnold, Lorna (1995). Windscale 1957: Anatomy of a Nuclear Accident (Second ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 152. ISBN
9781349240081
.
Brown, Paul (26 August 1999). "Windscale's terrible legacy"
. The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2020.