Windscale 1957: Anatomy of a Nuclear Accident, by Lorna Arnold
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Windscale 1957: Anatomy of a Nuclear Accident, by Lorna Arnold
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The aim of this book is to set the 1957 Windscale accident in its historical context in the immediate post-war period and the early days of the Cold War, to describe the event and its consequences and to evaluate it from the vantage point of 1990.
Windscale 1957: Anatomy of a Nuclear Accident, by Lorna Arnold- Published on: 2015-10-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .60" w x 5.51" l, .75 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 235 pages
Review
'Nobody is better placed than the incomparable Lorna Arnold to relive and to tell this timely story. She does it magnificently.' Peter Hennessey, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary, University of London, UK
'[Lorna Arnold] embodies all that is best in official history It is her fairness and humanity that have enabled her to reveal so much.' Brian Cathcart, Professor of Journalism, Kingston University, London, UK
'...exemplary.' - The Guardian
'...fascinating and rather disconcerting reading.' - Safe Energy
'...Arnold asks whether any of this matters any more. It does, and her excellent book shows why.' - The Independent
'...pithy, authoritative and incisive account'. - Nature
'...an excellent book...written in a clear and expert style.' - Nuclear Engineer
'Not only are the technical details of the accident fully described, but the all important political context is sharply observed...This is how technical history should be researched and written and I cannot recommend this book too highly.' - Richard Wakeford, Journal of Radiological Protection
About the Author Lorna Arnold is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Institute of Contemporary British History.
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Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This is an important book to read on a major nuclear reactor accident. By David Ecale It follows the design and operation of the Windscale reactor complex and its two graphite pile reactors with a particular interest in pile number one which had a breakdown and developed a graphite fire in 1957. Before going through a detailed review, however, I do wish to point out that except for the 8 pages, or so, concerning the high drama of the accident itself, the book is pretty much as dry as dust. Ok, that said:1) The reactors were built by the British Government to primarily produce plutonium-239 for military purposes in atomic bomb research, manufacture, and testing.2) The reactors were quite primitive in design. Basically large blocks of almost pure graphite with a series of horizontal holes drilled through them.3) The holes in the reactors were used to either insert moderating (slow down & absorb neutrons) materials or nuclear material for transmutation from one element into another (mostly uranium-238 into plutonium-239)4) The nuclear material was enclosed in cylinders that were pushed into the reactor core from one side and discharged after time out of the other side.5) The graphite had a habit of absorbing some of the nuclear energy and retaining it as a discontinuity in the crystalline lattice of the graphite.6) The solution to the energy retention was to heat up the affected area in order to re-arrange and restore the crystalline lattice of the graphite through the process of annealing.7) The ninth annealing process was the one that didn't work properly as an area of the pile overheated & a fire ensued.8) Here is where the fatal design defect of the pile was revealed. The pile was air cooled. Pushing more air through the pile to cool it only enhanced the fire by fanning the flames (air being about 18% oxygen). And just like blowing on a fire to blow out the flames doesn't work for a large fire, it didn't here, either.9) Lots of ugly stuff was blown out of the pile & up the chimney stacks into the atmosphere. By great good luck, some was filtered out, but a lot was not. The worst of these released in the short term was iodine-131 (which can cause thyroid cancer if ingested).10) Milk consumption was banned (milk having large concentrations of iodine-131 in the affected area). The good news was that iodine-131 has a half life decay of about 8 days, so the milk ban was not a permanent affair.The truly interesting point is that when pile number 2 was shut down & evaluated, it was discovered that the design would have caused a fire no matter what was done. Annealing only had the potential of delaying the inevitable disaster! The design itself was flawed. Neither pile was ever reactivated for use.The second point is political. The US had reneged on the "gentleman's" agreement between Roosevelt & Churchill to share nuclear research results. This agreement was made during the dark days of WW2 when Britain was under bombing threat & it was considered safest to move the research and scientists overseas to Canada & the US. After the war, Roosevelt was dead & Churchill was out of office. The US decided to restrict its dissemination of information to the British. The British basically built Windscale to catch up and join the club of nuclear nations.Windscale achieved two things for the British:1) The production of enough material for the British to create and test their own nuclear bombs.2) The accident woke up the US authorities to the fact that if they didn't act & assist the British quickly, more really bad things would happen as the British repeated the mistakes that the US had already made.The British were brought into the fold, so to speak. And, Windscale proved to be the physical and political reason for these successes.While you read this book have an internet connection available & do searches on: Windscale; Graphite Reactor Design; and Reactor Fire. Also, view the photos. There are quite a few available.PS. The Russians picked up the telephone & called the British as the graphite fire was raging at the Chernobyl Nuclear station for ideas on how to stop the fire.Disclaimer: This review is from the paperback version of the book as obtained through the inter-library loan program.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Book worth your time By S. Reynaud I had expected this to be a rather dry book, but Ms. Arnold does a wonderful job of covering this fascinating story of the world's first nuclear accident. I could not put it down.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five Stars By Susan This is part of my interest and research on nuclear disasters.
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