RE: 60th criticality accident

[dsimpson@unlnotes01.unl.edu]

The number of criticality accidents depends to some extent on what you count as
a criticality accident; for example, does it  involve overexposures, was it
safely contained in a shielded facility, etc.  However according to WASH 1192
there were 26 criticality accidents in USAEC facilities from 1943 to 1970.  A
table of these accidents can be viewed at
www.enviroweb.org/issues/nuketesting/accident/index.html.  A paper in the
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Nuclear Criticality (1995)
lists an additional 12 criticality accidents in Russia from 1953 to 1978.  Since
these reports there have been accidental criticalities in the US (Idaho Falls,
1978), and in Russia (1997 I believe).  In addition, there have been several in
other countries as well.

Based on these numbers, 60 accidental criticalities to date does not seem
unreasonable.

Dave Simpson
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
dsimpson1@unl.edu


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