A Review of Criticality Accidents A Review of Criticality Accidents

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D. MISCELLANEOUS SYSTEMS .................................................................................... 104 1. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 11 February 1945 .............................................. 104 2. National Reactor Testing Station, 29 November 1955 ............................................. 104 3. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 3 July 1956........................................................ 105 4. National Reactor Testing Station, 18 November 1958 ............................................. 106 5. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 11 December 1962 ............................................ 106 III. POWER EXCURSIONS AND QUENCHING MECHANISMS ........................................ 107 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 111 APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY OF NUCLEAR CRITICALITY TERMS ................................... 116 APPENDIX B: EQUIPMENT DIAGRAMS AND TABULAR PHYSICAL AND YIELD DATA FOR THE 22 PROCESS ACCIDENTS ................................... 120 xiii
FIGURES 1. Chronology of process criticality accidents........................................................................ 2 2. Map of the Russian Federation showing the sites of the process criticality accidents, the capital, Moscow, and Obinisk, the location of the regulating authority, IPPE ............. 3 3. Map of the United States showing the sites of the process criticality accidents, and the capital, Washington.............................................................................................................4 4. Map of the United Kingdom showing the site of the process criticality accident and the capital, London .............................................................................................................5 5. Map of Japan showing the site of the process criticality accident and the capital, Tokyo...................................................................................................................... 6 6. Layout of vessels and equipment in the staging area ......................................................... 7 7. Equipment layout for the oxalate precipitation and filtration process.............................. 10 8. Layout of the experimental equipment ............................................................................. 12 9. Simplified diagram of the C-1 wing vessels and interconnecting piping involved in the accident. ...................................................................................................................... 14 10. Drum in which the 1958 Y-12 process criticality accident occurred................................ 15 11. Configuration of solutions (aqueous and organic) in the vessel before the accident ....... 16 12. Vessel in which the 1958 Los Alamos process criticality accident occurred ................... 17 13. Layout of vessels in Glovebox 10 and the holding vessel external to the glovebox ........ 19 14. Layout of DSS–6 ..............................................................................................................23 15. Vacuum pump diagram showing oil reservoir (Dimensions are in mm) .......................... 24 16. Oil reservoir (Dimensions are in mm) .............................................................................. 25 17. Layout of glovebox equipment ......................................................................................... 29 18. Process vessels and material flow diagram. ..................................................................... 30 19. Schematic of vessels showing organic and aqueous solutions (not intended to imply the exact conditions at the time of the accident) .............................................................. 32 20. Layout of UF to uranium oxide conversion equipment and associated 6 vacuum system ................................................................................................................. 35 21. Residue recovery area layout ............................................................................................ 37 22. Layout of dissolution glovebox ........................................................................................ 38 23. Plan view of the tanks involved in the accident ................................................................ 41 24. Elevation view of the tanks involved in the accident........................................................ 41 25. Process equipment related to the criticality accident........................................................ 43 26. Solution transfer as reconstructed from the transparent plastic mockup of the transfer vessel. Configuration (B) is the postulated state at the time of the accident .................... 44 xv
Page 1 and 2: LA-13638 Approved for public releas
Page 3 and 4: A Review of Criticality Accidents 2
Page 5 and 6: PREFACE This document is the second
Page 7 and 8: Tom Jones was invaluable in generat
Page 9: C. OBSERVATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED
Page 13 and 14: 51. MSKS and assembly involved in t
Page 15 and 16: A REVIEW OF CRITICALITY ACCIDENTS A
Page 17 and 18: 3 Black Sea Baltic Sea Obninsk Norw
Page 19 and 20: North Atlantic Ocean Irish Sea Wind
Page 21 and 22: 1. Mayak Production Association, 15
Page 23 and 24: time of the accident. However, the
Page 25 and 26: determined by a radiation control p
Page 27 and 28: consequences of this accident, the
Page 29 and 30: Figure 10. Drum in which the 1958 Y
Page 31 and 32: The entire plutonium process area h
Page 35 and 36: During the next shift, radiation sa
Page 37 and 38: 9. Siberian Chemical Combine, 14 Ju
Page 39 and 40: The accident investigation determin
Page 41 and 42: 10. Hanford Works, 7 April 1962 18,
Page 43 and 44: heater and stirrer were turned off
Page 45 and 46: vessel 64-A was added. The dissolut
Page 47 and 48: additional reflection afforded by t
Page 49 and 50: 15. Electrostal Machine Building Pl
Page 53 and 54: ased on a radiation survey, that th
Page 55 and 56: 0.5 m 0.5 m 0.5 m 0.5 m 3.0 m 1.4 m
Page 57 and 58: The investigation identified severa
Page 59 and 60: 19. Idaho Chemical Processing Plant
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20. Siberian Chemical Combine, 13 D
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To Glovebox 6 7 8 6 From Glovebox 6
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on a 0.4 m square pitch grid. The b
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competing reactivity effects proved
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Figure 35. The precipitation vessel
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B. PHYSICAL AND NEUTRONIC CHARACTER
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Material Fissile Mass: Fissile mass
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235 U Spherical Critical Mass (kg)
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Table 10. Accident Fission Energy R
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• Accidents in shielded facilitie
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• Senior management should be awa
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Table 11. Reactor and Critical Expe
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3. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2
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5. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 3
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eflector of 236 kg when he noticed
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3. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
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At the equatorial plane, the two ha
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Figure 48. The Los Alamos Scientifi
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Figure 50. Burst rod and several se
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On 11 March 1963, the facility chie
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13. Chelyabinsk-70, 5 April 1968 57
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14. Aberdeen Proving Ground, 6 Sept
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completed the construction of the l
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C. MODERATED METAL OR OXIDE SYSTEMS
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63,65,66, 67 4. Chalk River Laborat
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7. Centre dÉtudes Nucleaires de Sa
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a technician prescribing the loadin
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the room to drain the water out of
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In the final experiment, the critic
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III. POWER EXCURSIONS AND QUENCHING
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Figure 64. Energy model computation
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References 1. Stratton, W. R. A Rev
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50. Paxton, H. C. “Godiva Wrecked
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92. Stone, R. S., H. P. Sleeper, Jr
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criticality accident: The release o
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prompt criticality: State of a fiss
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1. Mayak Production Association, 15
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9. Siberian Chemical Combine (Tomsk
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13. Siberian Chemical Combine, 2 De
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15. Electrostal Machine Building Pl
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19. Idaho Chemical Processing Plant
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21. Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrat
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