List of civilian nuclear incidents

This is a list of civilian nuclear incidents which are notable, but do not fit the criteria for inclusion in List of civilian nuclear accidents. Military accidents are listed at List of military nuclear accidents. Civil radiation accidents not involving fissile material are listed at List of civilian radiation accidents. For a general discussion of both civilian and military accidents, see Nuclear and radiation accidents.

Contents 1 Scope of this article 2 1960s 3 1970s 4 2000s 5 2010s 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Scope of this article

In listing civilian nuclear incidents, the following criteria have been followed:

1. The event should involve fissile material or a reactor.
2. The incident must be related directly to radioactive material, not merely (for example) at a nuclear power plant.
3. To qualify as "civilian", the nuclear operation/material must be principally for non-military purposes.
4. The event must not qualify for the List of civilian nuclear accidents

[edit] 1960s

• November 1965

• An operator error caused overheating and melting of some fuel in the Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 facility at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. There was no radiation release or exposure.^[1]

[edit] 1970s

• 17 April 1970 — Tonga Trench

• The SNAP 27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator aboard the Lunar Module Aquarius reentered the Earth's atmosphere. The LM had been used as a "lifeboat" to help the Apollo 13 crew return to Earth after the Command Module lost electrical power. The vehicle was targeted for the Pacific Ocean to reduce the risk of contamination in the event the RTG broke up, but it is believed to have survived reentry and water impact intact. Periodic radiation checks of the area have found no signs of leakage.

• 22 March 1975 — Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, AL, United States

• A fire caused by careless technicians cut off many control circuits for two nuclear power reactors of the Tennessee Valley Authority at Browns Ferry Station in Alabama. The fire burned uncontrolled for 7.5 hours and the two operating GE nuclear reactors were at full power when the fire began. One of them went "dangerously out of control" for several hours and was not stabilized until a few hours after the fire was put out.^[2] There was some concern about a meltdown, but this did not occur and there was no radioactive contamination.^[3]

• March 1977 — Toledo, OH, United States

• An electromagnetic relief valve stuck open following a reactor scram at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant near Toledo, OH. The valve was noticed by operators, and the reactor, manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox, was only slightly damaged.^[4]

[edit] 2000s

• July, 2002 — Chapelcross nuclear power station, UK

• UK Authorities blamed an incident at a Scottish nuclear plant on "procedural and hardware deficiencies". Fuel rods falling to the floor were deemed responsible for the incident.^[5]

• September and October, 2005 — Dounreay, UK

• In September, the site's cementation plant was closed when 266 litres of radioactive reprocessing residues were spilled inside containment.^[6] In October, another of the site's reprocessing laboratories was closed down after nose-blow tests of eight workers tested positive for trace radioactivity.^[7]

• July 25, 2006 -INES Level 2 – Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant Sweden

• Mains power lost to reactor 1 after an electrical fault. Two of four diesel generators fail, problems related to computer systems^[8] (e.g. readings of core water levels) due to earlier electrical fault SCRAMed.

• 4 June 2008 — Krško Nuclear Power Plant, Slovenia – Loss of coolant

• Emergency response system ECURIE (European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange) received an alert message following a loss of coolant accident at the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant.^[9]

[edit] 2010s

• March 11–13, 2011 – INES Level needed, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant, Japan – Turbine damage, possible radioactivity emergency
  • After the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami of March 11th, a fire from the turbine section of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant following the earthquake was reported by Kyodo News.^[10][11][12] The blaze was in a building housing the turbine, which is sited separately from the plant's reactor,^[13] and was soon extinguished.^[14]
  • On 13 March the lowest-level state of emergency was declared regarding the Onagawa plant by TEPCO, as radioactivity readings temporarily^[15][16] exceeded allowed levels in the area of the plant.^[17][18] TEPCO stated this was due to radiation from the Fukushima I nuclear accidents and not from the Onagawa plant itself.^[19] Events are still developing.
• March 11–13, 2011 – INES Level needed, Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant, Japan – Reactor cooling pump damage
  • Following the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami the number 2 reactor was one of eleven nuclear reactors to be shut down automatically.^[20] It was reported on 14 March that a cooling system pump for the number 2 reactor had stopped working.^[21] Japan Atomic Power Company stated that there was a second operational pump and cooling was working, but that two of three diesel generators used to power the cooling system were out of order.^[22] Events are still developing.

[edit] See also

• Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
• Criticality accident
• International Nuclear Events Scale
• List of Chernobyl-related articles
• List of crimes involving radioactive substances
• List of nuclear reactors. a comprehensive annotated list of the world's nuclear reactors
• Nuclear power
• Nuclear power debate
• Nuclear reactor technology
• Radiation

[edit] References