The History of Nuclear Energy - First Nuclear Accident

Previously we have covered a number of topics regarding nuclear energy's first milestones, including the building of the first civilian nuclear reactor, the Obninsk Reactor. Today, the Nuclear Edition will cover a slightly bleaker topic, the first civilian nuclear reactor accident.

Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories

Chalk River Laboratories (CRL), formerly known as Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories (CRNL), is a Canadian nuclear research facility about 180 km north west of Ottawa in the province of Ontario. This site is a major research and development site for CANDU reactor technology, now widely used in Canada.

On 12 December 1952, a reactor shutoff rod failure, combined with operator errors, led to a major power excursion of more than double the reactor's rated output. The operators purged the reactor's moderator (heavy water), and the reaction halted in under 30 seconds. A cover gas system failure led to hydrogen explosions, damaging the reactor core. As a result, 30 kg of uranium were released, with irradiated water coolant leaking into the reactor building. Fortunately, this accident caused no immediate fatalities or injuries, and none of the exposed workers showed long term health effects.

This incident, while not disastrously fatal, may have lead some people to dismissing nuclear energy as a feasible source of energy due to the risks involved. Some may even go so far as to say, if the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories were not built in the first place, no accident would have happened. I of course agree with that statement. However, advancements come with risks and sacrifices. Surely there were accidents when fire was first used. People have died in coal mines. Offshore oil platforms are not the safest place in the world either. 100 years in the future, no one would even think about dismissing nuclear energy, because it is the only viable source of clean and sustainable energy our planet has right now.

Future 39th US President Jimmy Carter, then a Lieutenant in the US Navy, was among the cleanup crew.


Source: www.wikipedia.org