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Description
On October 7, 1957, workers noticed the Windscale nuclear's plant pile (reactor) 1 heating up more than normal. Immediately after this, a Wigner release was ordered, which would ultimately, in a way I don't understand, would cause the reactor to heat up evenly. This procedure had been successfully carried out eight times prior.

This was mostly successful, other than it failing in channel 2053, where the temperature was rising. A second Wigner release was carried out on October 8, which caused the entire reactor's temperature to rise, indicating success.

However on October 10, it was clear that something wasn't quite right, as temperature was entirely rising, although it was meant to gradually fall as the release ended. The temperature eventually reached 400 degrees celsius, or 750 degrees fahrenheit.

Eventually, the cooling fans were sped up and the airflow was increased. A release was then detected, and it was assumed that a cartridge has simply burst, which was not considered a fatal problem as it had happened in the past.

However it had not simply burst: it had caught fire as well. And the increased airflow only made the fire worse. However, due to many reasons, the fire was not noticed for nearly 48 hours, and efforts to control it were less then professional.

First, they tried to increase the airflow, but this made the fire worse. They had also already made a firebreak by ejecting undamaged cartridges from the reactor. It was then proposed that they remove some from the heart of the fire by removing the melted cartridges by poking them out using poles and having them fall into the cooling pond.

However this proved impossible, as the rods did not budge no matter what.

Their next attempt was to use carbon dioxide to smother the fire, but this also did nothing at all.

Then on October 11, when the fire was at its worst, there was a total of eleven tons of uranium ablaze, and the fire had reached 1,300 degrees celsius, or 2,400 degrees fahrenheit. The next idea, now being faced with a potential crisis, was to use water, which I'm kind of surprised they didn't try first. However this was also risky, as molten metal oxidizes on contact with water, which strips oxygen from the water molecules and leaves free hydrogen, which could explode upon contact with incoming air. However the water was also unsuccessful, but luckily did not explode.

The final plan was to shut off all air entering the area. The entire building was evacuated for this, and all cooling and ventilation in the building was shut off. At this point, an evacuation of the entire local area was considered, and this was a last ditch effort. However this did ultimately work and the fire slowly died. Although even after it, water kept being poured in the pile for the next 24 hours.

However the damage had been done. I don't know what any of these measurements mean or equal to, but the fire had ultimately released 740 terabecquerels, or 20,000 curies of Iodine-131, 22 Tbq, or 594 curies of Caesium-137, and 12,000 Tbq, or 324,000 curies of Xenon-133, among other things, into the atmosphere that spread around England and the rest of Europe.

However the accident was hushed up for a while, although it did come to light later that a small amount of the highly dangerous Polonium-210 was released as well. Comparing this disaster to the 3 other major nuclear accidents throughout history shows this (measurements here are exclusively Tbq):

Three Mile Island released much less Iodine-131, Caesium-137 and Strontium-90 compared to Windscale, surprising considering the fact that Windscale released none of the latter, and it also released 25 times as much Xenon-135 compared to Windscale

Chernobyl released 1,760,000 Tbq of Iodine-131, compared to Windscale's 740, released 79,500 tbq of Caesium-137, compared to Windscale's 22, and released 6,500,00 tbq of Xenon-133 compared to Windscale's 12,000. It also released 80,000 tbq of Strontium-90 and 6,100 tbq of Plutonium

Fukushima released 130,000 tbq of Iodine-131, compared to Windscale's 740, released 35,000 tbq of Caesium-137, compared to Windscale's 22, and released 17,000,000 tbq of Xenon-133 compared to Windscale's 12,000

However regardless of its status, it had a big impact on the local area. Of the biggest concern was the Iodine-131, which had a half life of eight days. Iodine-131 increases the odds of Thyroid Cancer, with children being at the biggest risk due to not having fully developed thyroids. In the days following the disaster, the consumption of local milk was stopped, since it was found that local milk samples was dangerously contaminated with Iodine-131. In spite of this, nobody was evacuated.

A death toll has been hard to determine. Not in the usual way, for example with the Vajont Dam Disaster and the MV Le Joola, among others, where the bodies were swept away, never to be seen again. No, in this instance, and others like those other aformentioned nuclear incidents, it's due to the deaths not being immediate. Nobody really suffered instantly, instead many began to suffer the effects, fall ill, and even die in the weeks, months, and even years following the disaster. As for the plant itself, it was shut down, even the undamaged pile 2 was considered unsafe to use.

Two things here, one, I'm sorry that I explained everything poorly or left stuff out. I'm not very knowledgable on this matter whatsoever, so if you would like to know more, I'd reccomend watching Fascinating Horror's video on this matter, as he explains everything much better than I did, although my only issue with it is that he refers to it as "Britain's Chernobyl" even though I, very poorly, explained how they are different, although he's not the only one who's done it. Regardless, I'd still reccomend checking it out, using this link

And thus concludes this very busy week of mine. I've noticed that this week has been fairly UK heavy, I mean I covered the R101, Ladbroke Grove, Harrow and Wealdstone and now this one. I dunno. Just a thought. The next regularly scheduled upload to look out for is the Montparnasse Derailment on the 22nd, which is thankfully much less scientific. I have a couple more announcements to make later, but I'll make those tomorrow when I start the SSEC reviews, which remember, are in the "journals" format.

Sources:

Windscale fire - Wikipedia
Wigner effect - Wikipedia

Description
On October 7, 1957, workers noticed the Windscale nuclear's plant pile (reactor) 1 heating up more than normal. Immediately after this, a Wigner release was ordered, which would ultimately, in a way I don't understand, would cause the reactor to heat up evenly. This procedure had been successfully carried out eight times prior.

This was mostly successful, other than it failing in channel 2053, where the temperature was rising. A second Wigner release was carried out on October 8, which caused the entire reactor's temperature to rise, indicating success.

However on October 10, it was clear that something wasn't quite right, as temperature was entirely rising, although it was meant to gradually fall as the release ended. The temperature eventually reached 400 degrees celsius, or 750 degrees fahrenheit.

Eventually, the cooling fans were sped up and the airflow was increased. A release was then detected, and it was assumed that a cartridge has simply burst, which was not considered a fatal problem as it had happened in the past.

However it had not simply burst: it had caught fire as well. And the increased airflow only made the fire worse. However, due to many reasons, the fire was not noticed for nearly 48 hours, and efforts to control it were less then professional.

First, they tried to increase the airflow, but this made the fire worse. They had also already made a firebreak by ejecting undamaged cartridges from the reactor. It was then proposed that they remove some from the heart of the fire by removing the melted cartridges by poking them out using poles and having them fall into the cooling pond.

However this proved impossible, as the rods did not budge no matter what.

Their next attempt was to use carbon dioxide to smother the fire, but this also did nothing at all.

Then on October 11, when the fire was at its worst, there was a total of eleven tons of uranium ablaze, and the fire had reached 1,300 degrees celsius, or 2,400 degrees fahrenheit. The next idea, now being faced with a potential crisis, was to use water, which I'm kind of surprised they didn't try first. However this was also risky, as molten metal oxidizes on contact with water, which strips oxygen from the water molecules and leaves free hydrogen, which could explode upon contact with incoming air. However the water was also unsuccessful, but luckily did not explode.

The final plan was to shut off all air entering the area. The entire building was evacuated for this, and all cooling and ventilation in the building was shut off. At this point, an evacuation of the entire local area was considered, and this was a last ditch effort. However this did ultimately work and the fire slowly died. Although even after it, water kept being poured in the pile for the next 24 hours.

However the damage had been done. I don't know what any of these measurements mean or equal to, but the fire had ultimately released 740 terabecquerels, or 20,000 curies of Iodine-131, 22 Tbq, or 594 curies of Caesium-137, and 12,000 Tbq, or 324,000 curies of Xenon-133, among other things, into the atmosphere that spread around England and the rest of Europe.

However the accident was hushed up for a while, although it did come to light later that a small amount of the highly dangerous Polonium-210 was released as well. Comparing this disaster to the 3 other major nuclear accidents throughout history shows this (measurements here are exclusively Tbq):

Three Mile Island released much less Iodine-131, Caesium-137 and Strontium-90 compared to Windscale, surprising considering the fact that Windscale released none of the latter, and it also released 25 times as much Xenon-135 compared to Windscale

Chernobyl released 1,760,000 Tbq of Iodine-131, compared to Windscale's 740, released 79,500 tbq of Caesium-137, compared to Windscale's 22, and released 6,500,00 tbq of Xenon-133 compared to Windscale's 12,000. It also released 80,000 tbq of Strontium-90 and 6,100 tbq of Plutonium

Fukushima released 130,000 tbq of Iodine-131, compared to Windscale's 740, released 35,000 tbq of Caesium-137, compared to Windscale's 22, and released 17,000,000 tbq of Xenon-133 compared to Windscale's 12,000

However regardless of its status, it had a big impact on the local area. Of the biggest concern was the Iodine-131, which had a half life of eight days. Iodine-131 increases the odds of Thyroid Cancer, with children being at the biggest risk due to not having fully developed thyroids. In the days following the disaster, the consumption of local milk was stopped, since it was found that local milk samples was dangerously contaminated with Iodine-131. In spite of this, nobody was evacuated.

A death toll has been hard to determine. Not in the usual way, for example with the Vajont Dam Disaster and the MV Le Joola, among others, where the bodies were swept away, never to be seen again. No, in this instance, and others like those other aformentioned nuclear incidents, it's due to the deaths not being immediate. Nobody really suffered instantly, instead many began to suffer the effects, fall ill, and even die in the weeks, months, and even years following the disaster. As for the plant itself, it was shut down, even the undamaged pile 2 was considered unsafe to use.

Two things here, one, I'm sorry that I explained everything poorly or left stuff out. I'm not very knowledgable on this matter whatsoever, so if you would like to know more, I'd reccomend watching Fascinating Horror's video on this matter, as he explains everything much better than I did, although my only issue with it is that he refers to it as "Britain's Chernobyl" even though I, very poorly, explained how they are different, although he's not the only one who's done it. Regardless, I'd still reccomend checking it out, using this link

And thus concludes this very busy week of mine. I've noticed that this week has been fairly UK heavy, I mean I covered the R101, Ladbroke Grove, Harrow and Wealdstone and now this one. I dunno. Just a thought. The next regularly scheduled upload to look out for is the Montparnasse Derailment on the 22nd, which is thankfully much less scientific. I have a couple more announcements to make later, but I'll make those tomorrow when I start the SSEC reviews, which remember, are in the "journals" format.

Sources:

Windscale fire - Wikipedia
Wigner effect - Wikipedia