A Review of Criticality Accidents, 2000 Revision

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Los Alamos National Laboratory

2000

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD v

PREFACE vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS xi

LIST OF FIGURES . xv

LIST OF TABLES .. xix

ABSTRACT . 1

INTRODUCTION .. 1

I. PROCESS ACCIDENTS.. 2

A. ACCIDENT DESCRIPTIONS .. 2

1. Mayak Production Association, 15 March 1953 .. 7

2. Mayak Production Association, 21 April 1957 . 9

3. Mayak Production Association, 2 January 1958 11

4. Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, 16 June 1958 13

5. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 30 December 1958 .. 16

6. Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, 16 October 1959 18

7. Mayak Production Association, 5 December 1960 .. 19

8. Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, 25 January 1961 . 22

9. Siberian Chemical Combine, 14 July 1961 .. 23

10. Hanford Works, 7 April 1962 .. 27

11. Mayak Production Association, 7 September 1962 .. 28

12. Siberian Chemical Combine, 30 January 1963 .. 30

13. Siberian Chemical Combine, 2 December 1963 31

14. United Nuclear Fuels Recovery Plant, 24 July 1964 33

15. Electrostal Machine Building Plant, 3 November 1965 . 35

16. Mayak Production Association, 16 December 1965 37

17. Mayak Production Association, 10 December 1968 40

18. Windscale Works, 24 August 1970 43

19. Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, 17 October 1978 45

20. Siberian Chemical Combine, 13 December 1978 . 47

21. Novosibirsk Chemical Concentration Plant, 15 May 1997 .. 50

22. JCO Fuel Fabrication Plant, 30 September 1999 .. 53

B. PHYSICAL AND NEUTRONIC CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE PROCESS FACILITY

CRITICALITY ACCIDENTS 57

Accident Reconstruction. 57

Geometry 57

Material 59

Discussion .. 59

Conclusions .. 60

Fission Yields 61

C. OBSERVATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM PROCESS CRITICALITY ACCIDENTS.. 64

Observations 64

Lessons Learned 65

Lessons of Operational Importance . 65

Lessons of Supervisory, Managerial, and Regulatory Importance .. 66

Conclusions . 67

II. REACTOR AND CRITICAL EXPERIMENT ACCIDENTS 68

A. FISSILE SOLUTION SYSTEMS 70

1. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, December 1949 70

2. Hanford Works, 16 November 1951 70

3. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 26 May 1954 . 71

4. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1 February 1956 .. 72

5. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 30 January 1968 .. 73

B. BARE AND REFLECTED METAL ASSEMBLIES . 74

1. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 21 August 1945.. 74

2. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 21 May 1946 . 74

3. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 1 February 1951 .. 77

4. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 18 April 1952 78

5. Sarov (Arzamas-16), 9 April 1953 .. 78

6. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 3 February 1954 .. 80

7. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 12 February 1957 80

8. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 17 June 1960 . 83

9. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 10 November 1961 . 84

10. Sarov (Arzamas-16), 11 March 1963 . 84

11. Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, 26 March 1963 86

12. White Sands Missile Range, 28 May 1965.. 86

13. Chelyabinsk-70, 5 April 1968 . 87

14. Aberdeen Proving Ground, 6 September 1968 .. 89

15. Sarov (Arzamas-16), 17 June 1997 . 89

C. MODERATED METAL OR OXIDE SYSTEMS 93

1. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 6 June 1945 93

2. Chalk River Laboratory, late 1940s or early 1950s . 94

3. Argonne National Laboratory, 2 June 1952 . 94

4. Chalk River Laboratory, Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., 12 December 1952 . 95

5. National Reactor Testing Station, 22 July 1954 95

6. Boris Kidrich Institute, 15 October 1958 . 96

7. Centre dÉtudes Nucleaires de Saclay, France, 15 March 1960 . 97

8. National Reactor Testing Station, 3 January 1961 97

9. National Reactor Testing Station, 5 November 1962 . 98

10. Mol, Belgium, 30 December 1965 .. 98

11. Kurchatov Institute, 15 February 1971 .. 99

12. Kurchatov Institute, 26 May 1971 . 101

13. The RA-2 Facility, 23 September 1983 .. 103

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 .. 12