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4 May 1986 - Hamm-Uentrop, West-Germany
An experimental 300-megawatt THTR-300 PBMR in West-Germany released
radiation after one of its spherical fuel pebbles became lodged
in the pipe used to deliver fuel elements to the reactor. Operator
actions to dislodge the obstruction during the event damaged the
fuel pebble cladding, releasing radiation detectable up to two kilometers
from the reactor. MORE
6 April 1993 - Tomsk, Russia
At the Tomsk-7 Siberian Chemical Enterprise plutonium reprocessing
facility, a pressure build-up led to an explosive mechanical failure
in a 34 cubic meter stainless steel reaction vessel buried in a
concrete bunker under building 201 of the radiochemical works. The
vessel contained a mixture of concentrated nitric acid, uranium
(8757 kg), plutonium (449 g) along with a mixture of radioactive
and organic waste from a prior extraction cycle. The explosion dislodged
the concrete lid of the bunker and blew a large hole in the roof
of the building, releasing approximately 6 GBq of Pu 239 and 30
TBq of various other radionuclides into the environment. The accident
exposed 160 on-site workers and almost two thousand cleanup workers
to total doses of up to 50 mSv (the threshold limit for radiation
workers is 100 mSv per 5 years). The contamination plume extended
28 km North-East of building 201, 20 km beyond the facility property.
The small village of Georgievka (pop. 200) was at the end of the
fallout plume, but no fatalities, illnesses or injuries were reported.
MORE
30 September 1999 - Tokai-mura, Japan
Japan's worst nuclear accident to date took place at a uranium
reprocessing facility in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki prefecture, northeast
of Tokyo, Japan. The direct cause of the criticality accident was
workers putting uranyl nitrate solution containing about 16.6 kg
of uranium, which exceeded the critical mass, into a precipitation
tank. The tank was not designed to dissolve this type of solution
and was not configured to prevent eventual criticality. Three workers
were exposed to radiation doses in excess of allowable limits (two
of these workers died); a further 116 recieved lesser doses of 1
msV or greater. MORE
15 February 2000 - Buchanan, New York, USA
The Indian Point nuclear power plant's reactor 2 in the state of
New York, vented a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam
generator tube failed. No detectable radioactivity was observed
offsite. Con Edison was censured by the NRC for not following the
procedures for timely notification of government agencies. Subsequently,
Con Edison is required by the NRC to replace all 4 steam generators.
MORE
9 February 2002 - Onagawa, Japan
Two workers were exposed to a small amount of radiation and suffered
minor burns when a fire broke out at the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station
Miyagi Prefecture. The fire occurred in the basement of reactor
#3 during a routine inspection when a spray can was punctured accidentally,
igniting a sheet of plastic. MORE
19 April 2005 - Sellafield, United Kingdom
Twenty metric tons of uranium and 160 kilograms of plutonium dissolved
in 83,000 liters of nitric acid leaked undetected over several months
from a cracked pipe into a stainless steel sump chamber at the Thorp
nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. The partially processed spent fuel
was drained into holding tanks outside the plant. MORE
September/Octtober 2005 - Dounreay, United Kingdom
In September, the site's cementation plant was closed when 266
litres of radioactive reprocessing residues were spilled inside
containment. In October, another of the site's reprocessing laboratories
was closed down after nose-blow tests of eight workers tested positive
for trace radioactivity. MORE
3 November 2005 - Haddam, Connecticut, USA
The Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company reports that water
containing quantities (below safe drinking water limits) of Cs-137,
Co-60, Sr-90, and tritium leaked from a spent fuel pond. MORE
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