An analysis of the 1957 windscale accident using the WEERIE code

Abstract

The reactor safety analysis code WEERIE has been used to study the radiological consequences of the fire which affected a substantial fraction of the core at Windscale No. 1 pile in October 1957. From the information published in the open literature it has been possible to simulate the fuel conditions at the time of the incident with WEERIE and to calculate the subsequent releases of radioactive nuclides into the atmosphere. Meteorological dispersion has been estimated from the conditions prevailing at the time of the accident and WEERIE has been used to predict the dosimetric consequences, the ground deposition and the external exposure to be associated with the release of a wide range of nuclides. Extremely good agreement has been found between the WEERIE analysis and the measurements made on a limited selection of nuclides after the incident. WEERIE additionally provides information about several other interesting facets of the Windscale release. Overall the comparison with WEERIE lends confidence to the program methodology and data sources, thus giving increased credibility to the results obtained from the program in its application to existing and proposed commercial nuclear power stations.