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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Laser-heating and Radiance Spectrometry for the Study of Nuclear Materials in Conditions Simulating a Nuclear Power Plant Accident
Published on: December 14, 2017
A review of irradiated fuel particle releases from the Windscale Piles, 1950-1957
1Westlakes Research Institute, The Princess Royal Building, Westlakes Science and Technology Park, Moor Row, Cumbria CA24 3LN, UK. andrew.smith@westlakes.ac.uk
Abstract:
Radiological assessments have assumed that the mass of irradiated uranium oxide particles inadvertently released to the atmosphere from the Windscale Piles, two nuclear reactors at Windscale Works, Sellafield, England, during the 1950s was 20 kg. This paper re-examines the assumptions upon which this figure was based and concludes that the value is a realistically conservative estimate of the release, consistent with current radiological protection practice. The mass estimate is derived from a reanalysis of plant data produced at the time. The environmental data on which the initial estimates were based are reconfirmed, and additional support is provided by an interpretation of modelling studies of both the total deposition and milk concentrations resulting from that deposition. Milk-monitoring data from the time are shown to be consistent with the release assumptions used in the dispersion modelling exercise. Finally, the issue of statistical undersampling is addressed using the particle numbers and size distributions produced by the modelling exercise.
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