Chalk River - The First Nuclear Reactor Accident in History

today's video is brought to you by Squarespace the all-in-one platform for building your brand and growing your business more on them later since the first nuclear energy plans were established the Specter of a destructive accident such as a meltdown followed by a radiation poisoning has hovered like toxic Fallout above the concern mines of scientists and ordinary citizens alike in living memory humankind had to cope with the aftermath of disasters of Fukushima Chernobyl and Three Mile Island to name the most infamous going back to the late 1950s we also had the accidents at the windscale site in the UK and inkish team in the former Soviet Union but the dubious honor of suffering the world's first nuclear reactor meltdown in December 1952 belongs to a Canadian facility the chalk River nuclear Laboratories an event that was followed by another accident in 1958. in today's episode we're going to find out about the causes and consequences of both incidents and we'll also discover how a future U.S president was directly involved in the cleanup operations thank you [Music] chalk River Laboratories is located in Deep River renfo County Ontario Canada some 200 kilometers Northwest of Ottawa the plans for the construction of the Laboratories were laid out at the University of Montreal during World War II as part of a secret collaboration between Canada Britain and the U.S to conduct nuclear research for both civilian and Military purposes one month after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the chalk River facility began its operations its reactor called National research experimental or nrx became operational in 1947 under the national research Council of Canada in 1952 nrx was handed over to the atomic energy of Canada Limited aecl and was mainly devoted to non-military nuclear research the plant however also supplied the US military with uranium and plutonium the nrx had a 20 megawatt capacity and was considered the world's most powerful reactor used for experimental purposes this reactor was contained by a concrete enclosure and surrounded by cranes and railings on which remote controlled machines moved about performing the most dangerous tasks the reactor consisted of a sealed aluminum cylinder or calendar three meters high and eight meters wide the cylinder was divided into 175 vertical tubes of which 163 were filled with uranium and 12 with Boron carbide this compound can absorb neutrons thus preventing a fish and chain reaction from taking place in fact if any seven of these 12 control rods were inserted into the nrx no fission would occur nuclear reactions within nrx were also controlled or rather moderated by heavy water this liquid contains deuterium a hydrogen isotope whose nucleus contains a neutron and a proton the presence of this liquid absorbs neutrons emanated by the uranium rods by adjusting the level of heavy water nrx technicians could control the rate of the chain reaction and the power output of the reactor in addition to the heavy water a regular kind of H2O water circulated around the fuel rods to prevent them from overheating clearly staff safety would be a key concern at chalk River and several measures were put in place to prevent radiation poisoning for example wall paint was stripped every few months to avoid the accumulation of radioactive part vehicles on room surfaces Health Crews checked Personnel on a constant basis work is active in the most dangerous areas had to wear red underwear as a reminder to change pants before going home more importantly the nrx was controlled by a state-of-the-art control room which featured four vital buttons number one raised four control rods out of the reactor number two raised the remaining eight number three activate an electromagnetic currents to hold the control rods in place number four lowered all 12 rods into the reactor by activating a compressed air system the system was simple enough to prevent mishaps and accidents but unfortunately on December 12 1952 it was the mishandling of these buttons which led to chalk Rivers Black Friday so are you looking to take your business to the next level with a professional website that stands out well look no further than our friends over at Squarespace with Squarespace you can create a beautiful website that engages with your audience and sells your products content or even your time and the best part it's all in one place Squarespace offers customizable templates and design tools making it easy for anyone to create a professional looking website without knowing how to code so whether you're an artist an entrepreneur or an influencer Squarespace has your cupboard but that's not all Squarespace also offers e-commerce functionality allowing you to set up and manage your online store with ease with squarespace's email campaigns you can also stand out in any inbox and convert subscribers into loyal customers by sending beautiful emails that reflect your brand and with squarespace's website analytics 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associated with the control rods and assumed that its values were in the wrong position by correcting them he accidentally caused four control rods to rise out of the core due to the reduced levels of water in the cooling system the power output of nrx immediately increased and dangerously so red alert lights started flashing at 307 PM a supervisor rang the control room and yelled to the operator on the other end of the line to press buttons 3 and 4. if you remember number three ensured that all control rods were kept in place more importantly button 4 lowered all 12 rods into nrx which would absorb most neutrons generated by the radioactive material and stop the fission Chain Reaction but here is the problem the supervisor meant to say buttons 3 and 4 but said buttons were 1 and 4 instead when he realized his mistake he immediately corrected himself but it was too late the operator in the control room had pushed button one which raised four control rods out of the reactor thus accelerating the fission temperature inside nrx surge beyond measure power output normally set to a maximum of 30 megawatts Rose to almost 100. the uranium Rod started to melt and the supposedly cooling water was boiling instead only a few seconds later the supervisor managed to correct his mistake with the operator in the control room the operator tried to lower back into the core the four control rods but only one descended correctly into the reactor besides the 12 control rods chalk River technicians had another race up their sleeves to moderate nuclear fission the heavy water acting with lightning speed The Operators dumped the liquid into the calandria successfully stopping the fission but the troubles weren't over when the uranium in the nrx had melted the reaction had generated large volumes of hydrogen the hydrogen came into contact with air entering the reactor resulting in an explosion which damaged the walls of the Canon rear 4.5 million liters of cooling water now contaminated gushed into the basement of chalk River thus spreading radiation according to Ortho Wilfred Eggleston the water flooding the facility was seven times more radioactive than the global production of radium at the time The Escape of the contaminated water caused radiation levels in the air to soar at 3 10 pm radiation above the reactor was measured at 200 milligrams per hour now for comparison consider that on average a citizen of North America is expected to receive a radiation dose of 620 milliamps per year but that was just the start at 3 11 pm radiation had skyrocketed to 900 milligrams per hour 16 minutes later it reached 5000 milliamps per hour alarms went off throughout chalk River alerting Construction form and Al Donahue he and his crew were busy building the foundations of a new reactor when the Sinister Blair of the sirens pierced through the din of their Machinery Donahue realized that the situation was deadly serious and later recounted radiation was likely Airborne that's why I got my guys out of there we just sat in the bus outside the boundary of the plant of course Donahue was right a Westerly wind blowing at about four meters per second contributed to spreading radiation outside nrx and towards adjacent buildings which reported off-the-scale radioactivity readings at 3 47 PM the order was given to evacuate the entire plant two days after the evacuation two journalists at the newspaper the Ottawa Citizen were invited toward chalk River and report about the accident in what appeared to be a PR stunt aimed at reassuring the local population their piece downplayed the dangers of radiation poisoning stating stories of dangerous radiation were fantastically exaggerated we could not have been closer yet we were inconsiderably less danger than a man crossing an Ottawa Street but official did aecl knew very well that the site had to be decontaminated and fast the cleanup process started almost immediately taking 14 months in the participation of 800 ACL employees as well as Canadian and U.S military personnel at the time the US Navy was experimenting with nuclear-powered submarines and their fuel was tested at chalk River hence they had an interest in getting the nrx up and running as soon as possible the priority was to drain the contaminated water out of the reactor's basement without dumping it into the Ottawa River the solution devised by the aecl was to build a pipeline that drained the water to a Sandy area about 1600 meters away from chalk River the sand acted as a natural filter partially cleaning the water before it seeped into a creek and then a nearby lake the solution worked as measurements showed no radioactivity levels above normal the next job was to dismantle the reactor core and transport it to a safe place a 28 year old U.S Navy Lieutenant was called for his base in Schenectady New York to participate in this dangerous Endeavor he and his team of 24 men assisted by the ACL built a replica of the reactor and a playground next to chalk River and practiced how to take it apart with precision and speed speed was of course of the essence to avoid radiation poisoning the cleanup crew could not be exposed to the reactor core for more than 90 seconds at a Time Each team member had to get down to the nrx basement perform a single task and then get the hell out of there as fast as they could another group of men would then take over for another 90 seconds a shift and so on once the band were drilled to Perfection it was time for Action the team leader the Navy Lieutenant did not shy away from getting his hands dirty apparently all he could do in those 90 seconds was a rush down to the basement wrench in hand run to the reactor and loosen one screw little by little piece by like he's the reactor and what was left at the uranium rods were loaded into a truck and hauled Away by teams of drivers also working in shifts it should be noted as as this was the first nuclear reactor meltdown in history the ACL did not have sophisticated procedures in place to dispose of the contaminated core the material was simply closed in wooden boxes and then buried in a Sandy area in 2005 ACL Specialists identified the burial location and dug out the remains of the core in their measurements they recorded that individual fuel rods and other components emanated radiation levels between a minimum of 0.5 and a maximum of four millisieverts per hour the collective radiation of all the debris dug up in the Expedition topped out at 85 millisieverts per hour for reference the exposure limit for nuclear industry employees as of 2023 is 20 millisievits per year logically the 2005 aecl crew transported the contaminated items to a more secure storage area but let's return to the 1950s weeks after the conclusion of cleanup operations our friend the Navy Lieutenant received some bad medical news due to radiation he may not be able to have children but visually exposure to pissar material may have also hampered his health in later years but it turns out that the guy we're talking about had four children and at the time of producing this episode as 98 years old oh and 25 years after the accident former Lieutenant James Earl Carter Jr better known as Jimmy I was elected president of the United States foreign [Music] X reactor was brought back to life by aecl in 1957 a new reactor called National research Universal nru began operation in a nearby building deploying a capacity of 200 megawatts on May the 24th 1958 Miu was shut down to remove some damaged uranium rods the crane operator had to remove the rods place them in special cooling flasks filled with water and then moved the flasks into a storage pool halfway through the process some plant workers noticed that one of the rods had been correctly placed into a flask which did not contain any water the fuel Rod was at risk of overheating immediately the only solution was to reinsert it quickly into the reactor the crane operator tried to do just that but the rod got jammed halfway through the operator attempted to extract and then reinsert the rod but it snapped and then caught fire the burning uranium was dispersed into the entire reactor room in the form of fumes and dust eventually seeping into other parts of the NIU building most of the employees were evacuated but a small number had to stay behind to put out the Blazing uranium construction Foreman Al Donahue who was also present at the 1952 accident took an active role he first helped evacuate his crew of welders and other employees and then he carried bins of sand to extinguish the fire in the reactor room their other aucl staff including employees from the accounts Department took turns to grab a bucket of sound Rush across a catwalk above the nru reactor and pour sand onto the burning fuel Rod to reduce exposure to radiation volunteers worked in two-minute shifts within 15 minutes the bar had been put out but the cleanup was not over yet the crew had to dispose of the radioactive dust and debris spewed by the uranium Rod which alerted the floor of the reactor room a friend of Donahue's metallurgist George Keeley owes oh one of the volunteers for the operation he was clad in a protective suit and briefed by a supervisor he had to walk into the pitch dark nru facility grab a sort of large vacuum pipe and then Hoover up fluorescent pellets for a shift of 10 minutes some 8cl employees took part in the cleanup either by doing their shift with the vacuum cleaner or in some other capacity when they reached the maximum recommended exposure to radiation the Canadian military stepped in dispatching 300 troops in the operation [Music] the 1958 events was less serious than the 1952 meltdown and the nru reactor was closer to six months both accidents however serious resulted in no immediate deaths and we should stress immediately but what if the long-term consequences of radiation poisoning in 1979 former serviceman bhajani Hannibal Paulson made contact with Gordon Edwards co-founder of the Canadian Coalition for nuclear responsibility back in 1958 Corporal Paulson had been one of the 300 troops sent in to clean up the nru reactor his specific task had been to saw off the hose of the vacuum cleaner used to suck up the uranium pellets Paulson suffered from multiple basal cell carcinomas a type of skin cancer likely caused by radioactive particles more than 20 years after the incident he needed Edwards help to receive compensation for the harm suffered in 1982 Edwards joined forces with Professor Duncan Thomas from McGill University to conduct a study on the health of the servicemen who had participated in the 1958 cleanup the same year the Department of Veteran Affairs commissioned the University of Ottawa to run a similar but larger study this time the troops involved in the 1952 accident were also surveyed as well as the staff participating in nuclear arms testing the University of Ottawa study monitored 434 servicemen who had been exposed to radiation at chalk River in 1952 and 1958. in the 1953 it's a 1981 period ten of them died due to cancer mortality rate of 2.3 percent over the same period a control group of 954 military staff who were never exposed to nuclear radiation experienced 24 deaths due to cancer a mortality rate of 2.5 percent these bindings suggest that the chalk River cohort of the study actually suffered lower rates of cancer death compared to the control group the authors of the study however admitted two flaws first of all a fire in 1956 had destroyed some of the records listing names of the 1952 cleanup Crews meaning that several servicemen would not be included in the study more importantly the study was focused on mortality but did not extend to morbidity to put it simply it counted the number of those who had died of cancer but not those who were ill with cancer but still alive as of 1981. the Ottawa researchers pointed out that a second study on morbidity would have been necessary but it was never carried out well at least it wasn't carried out by the University of Ottawa so let's return to Gordon Edwards and his power Professor Thomas from McGill University their study monitored the health of 65 troops of which 15 had contracted cancer a morbidity rate of 23 four times higher than what's expected amongst the general population clearly the chalk River meltdowns had a long-term effect on the health of the cleanup Crews involved and Edward's supported ex-corporal Paulson in launching a campaign against the Canadian pension commission after eight appearances in front of the commission and a review ordered by the federal court of appeal Paulson was finally granted a pension despite this Victory it took many more years before the same compensation could be extended to other veterans ill with cancer the atomic veterans recognition program was launched by Canadian minister of defense Peter Gordon McKay in September 2008 to recognize quote the service of those who participated in nuclear weapons testing and denuclear decontamination work the program awarded a one-off payment of twenty four thousand dollars to those who had participated in nuclear weapons tests and the chalk River decontamination efforts but there was a caveat the recognition program was limited to military personnel and civilian staff of the Department of National Defense there was no mention of the aecl civilian volunteers who had risked their health so what about them in 1982 a clinical study was conducted also on the civilian staff at aecl monitoring 850 employees investigators reported 23 cancer deaths between 1966 and 1980. the resulting mortality rate of 2.7 was found to be marginally smaller than the one found in the general population but once again the study did not delve into morbidity rates all that can be reported on the health of ACL employees comes from anecdotal evidence and the life experiences of those volunteers who fought radiation with buckets of sand and vacuum cleaners our old friends Al Donahue and George Keeley remained in contact with several former employees of chalk River decades after the accident year after year they had seen many of their friends suffering or dying from solid tumors or hematological cancers some of them like crane operator raym and paplinsky had filed claim after claim before dying without receiving compensation in 2008 Donahue and Keeley learned about the atomic veterans recognition program and it schemed to compensate military personnel and acknowledge their service to Canada why didn't the government dump some feeling similar for the chalk River employees in 2009 the donatio teamed up with Martin herbrecken friend of the deceased aecl employee they launched a letter writing campaign raising awareness of the issue and seeking to connect as many former colleagues as possible Donahue Keely and to break and made contact with 37 civilian Veterans of the disaster unfortunately 16 of them had died in the Years following the start of the campaign time was not on their side but persistence paid off and one of their petitions landed on the desk of Senator Celine hervo Payette as a trained lawyer the senator was eager to Champion such a solid case and put forward a motion which was passed into law in 2016 but it took six further years before the law could be enacted and to the relevant budget for the competition be set aside finally on March 31 2022 Natural Resources Canada announced the launch of the atomic workers recognition program to honor quote the exceptional service of those former ACL employees who responded so bravely in a time of Crisis each of these workers performed under exceptional circumstances answers and deserves the respect admiration and gratitude of all Canadians the program Awards a one-off compensation payment to individuals who participated in the cleanup of either chalk River accident their estate caregivers or beneficiaries at the time of producing this episode we realized that the deadline to apply for the scheme is the 31st March 2023 so if you believe you're entitled to Empire or know someone who might be just search Atomic workers recognition program NR can the chalk River accidents were not as severe or lethal as the Chernobyl or Fukushima meltdowns and naturally this makes them less likely to be remembered and discussed that is why we felt it was important to cover the history of what happened in 1952 and 1958 and especially to acknowledge the lives of those who died or contracted severe illnesses in the aftermath thank you

Channel: Geographics

Views: 275,846

Keywords: small modular reactor, chalk river, history, historic, documentary

Id: zl4syrvRG1g

Length: 20min 4sec (1204 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 19 2023