RESUMO
A serious fire developed in the core of a nuclear reactor at Windscale Works, Sellafield, northwest England, which led to the release of significant quantities of radioactive material into the environment during 10-11th October, 1957. In 1957, Windscale Works was operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), and on 15th October it was announced by the Chairman of the UKAEA that a Committee of Inquiry had been established under the chairmanship of Sir William Penney to conduct an investigation into the accident. The Committee sat at Windscale Works during 17-25th October, interviewed 37 people (some more than once), and examined 73 technical exhibits. The Committee reported to the Chairman of the UKAEA on 26th October. The Report of the Committee formed the technical basis of a UK Government White Paper (Cmnd. 302) published on 8th November, 1957, but the Penney Report itself was not published, and was only made public (at what is now The National Archives, TNA, Kew) in January, 1988. The original Report of the Committee of Inquiry is reproduced here from a copy of the Report supplied by TNA from TNA File AB 86/25.
Assuntos
Liberação Nociva de Radioativos/história , Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/história , Inglaterra , Monitoramento Ambiental/história , Contaminação Radioativa de Alimentos , História do Século XX , Humanos , Doses de RadiaçãoAssuntos
Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/história , Desastres/história , Incêndios/história , Neoplasias Induzidas por Radiação/história , Reatores Nucleares/história , Plutônio/história , Monitoramento de Radiação/história , Liberação Nociva de Radioativos/história , Inglaterra , Contaminação Radioativa de Alimentos , História do Século XX , Humanos , Doses de RadiaçãoRESUMO
The aim of this paper is to describe the early stages of Mexican nuclearization that took place in contact with radioisotopes. This history requires a multilayered narrative with an emphasis in North-South asymmetric relations, and in the value of education and training in the creation of international asymmetrical networks. Radioisotopes were involved in exchanges with the United States since the late 1940s, but also with Canada. We also describe the context of implementation of Eisenhower´s Atoms for Peace initiative in Mexico that opened the door to training programs at both the Comisión Nacional de Energía Nuclear and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Radioisotopes became the best example of the peaceful applications of atomic energy, and as such they fitted the Mexican nuclearization process that was and still is defined by its commitment to pacifism. In 1955 Mexico became one of the 16 members of the atomic fallout network established by the United Nations. As part of this network, the first generation of Mexican (women) radio-chemists was trained. By the end of the 1960s, radioisotopes and biological markers were being produced in a research reactor, prepared and distributed by the CNEN within Mexico. We end up this paper with a brief reflection on North-South nuclear exchanges and the particularities of the Mexican case (AU)
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Assuntos
História do Século XIX , Radioisótopos/história , Medicina Nuclear/história , Medicina Nuclear/organização & administração , Medicina Nuclear/normas , Energia Nuclear/história , Física Nuclear/história , Análise por Ativação/história , Radioatividade , Biomarcadores , Radioquímica/história , Radioquímica/métodos , México/epidemiologia , Astronomia/história , Física/história , Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/história , Cinza Radioativa/efeitos adversos , Cinza Radioativa/história , Cinza Radioativa/prevenção & controleRESUMO
During 10-11 October 1957 a fire in the core of a nuclear reactor at Windscale Works, Sellafield (in the current county of Cumbria, England) led to a significant release of radioactive material to atmosphere. The accident at Windscale No. 1 Pile required a large-scale environmental monitoring programme to be conducted and the results of this survey led to a restriction on the distribution of milk from an area adjacent to Windscale Works for a period of several weeks. This monitoring programme was described in detail by H J Dunster and his colleagues from the Industrial Group of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (which operated Windscale Works in 1957) in a paper presented to the Second United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, held in Geneva during 1-13 September 1958. The paper, from the proceedings of this conference, is reproduced here.
Assuntos
Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/história , Monitoramento Ambiental/história , Reatores Nucleares/história , Liberação Nociva de Radioativos , Animais , Congressos como Assunto , Monitoramento Ambiental/métodos , Contaminação Radioativa de Alimentos/prevenção & controle , História do Século XX , Humanos , Radioisótopos do Iodo/análise , Leite/química , Doses de Radiação , Radioisótopos/análise , Neoplasias da Glândula Tireoide/prevenção & controle , Reino UnidoAssuntos
Acidente Nuclear de Chernobyl , Descontaminação/história , Planejamento em Desastres/história , Planejamento em Desastres/organização & administração , Medicina Militar/história , Liberação Nociva de Radioativos , Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/efeitos adversos , Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/história , Exposição Ambiental/efeitos adversos , Exposição Ambiental/história , História do Século XX , Humanos , Militares/história , Exposição Ocupacional/efeitos adversos , Exposição Ocupacional/história , Lesões por Radiação/história , Lesões por Radiação/prevenção & controle , U.R.S.S. , Ucrânia , Recursos HumanosAssuntos
Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/efeitos adversos , Militares , Guerra Nuclear , Lesões por Radiação/etiologia , Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/história , Feminino , Nível de Saúde , História do Século XX , Humanos , Japão , Masculino , Militares/história , Guerra Nuclear/história , Lesões por Radiação/história , Reino Unido , Saúde da População UrbanaRESUMO
The United Kingdom and Australia have reached agreement on the British payment for cleaning up the Maralinga (South Australia) site at which the UK tested some of its atomic weapons in the 1960s. The tests were conducted amid great secrecy and only in recent years has the truth about the health hazards fully emerged. The peace movement opposed the tests and its stand has been vindicated. Also vindicated have been the claims by Aborigines that more damage was done by the tests than was earlier admitted.
Assuntos
Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/história , Guerra Nuclear/história , Cinza Radioativa/história , Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/efeitos adversos , Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/legislação & jurisprudência , Austrália , Confidencialidade , Incêndios , História do Século XX , Humanos , Havaiano Nativo ou Outro Ilhéu do Pacífico , Centrais Elétricas/história , Cinza Radioativa/efeitos adversos , Cinza Radioativa/legislação & jurisprudência , Liberação Nociva de Radioativos/legislação & jurisprudência , Reino UnidoRESUMO
Sometimes the demonstration of a plausible risk is met with inappropriate attempts to explain it away rather than to protect the health of the public. This may have occurred in the case of leukemia in the vicinity of nuclear installations. In 1989, John Goldsmith prepared a document on this topic for the World Health Organization that persuasively argued for the association to be examined vigorously and to be taken seriously as a potential health risk. However, other commentators on the problem have seemed intent on raising unsubstantial methodological objections and insisting on standards of evidence inappropriate to the justification of action intended to protect the health of the public. Recommendations for resolving this specific issue are made, but the overriding concern is that the level of proof required to justify action for health protection should be less than that required to constitute causation as a scientific principle.
Assuntos
Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/efeitos adversos , Leucemia Induzida por Radiação/epidemiologia , Neoplasias Induzidas por Radiação/epidemiologia , Contaminação Radioativa do Ar/história , Criança , Análise por Conglomerados , Inglaterra/epidemiologia , Saúde Ambiental/história , Alemanha/epidemiologia , História do Século XX , Humanos , Leucemia Induzida por Radiação/história , Neoplasias Induzidas por Radiação/história , Centrais ElétricasRESUMO
In December 1949, a large amount of 131I was released to the air at Hanford during the dissolving of irradiated uranium fuel for a classified military experiment called the "Green Run." Reports of the release have varied from about 0.15-0.3 PBq. Using, as a guide, the reported measurements of 133Xe released during the experiment, the amount of 131I released has been reanalyzed. The results indicate that about 0.40 +/- 0.12 PBq (11 +/- 3 kCi) was released, somewhat larger than the largest previous estimates.