In the 1950s, a future U.S. president was one of hundreds who helped to clean up the world’s first serious nuclear accident. Canadian scientists are still unearthing insights from what happened next
Where ZEEP was the nuclear equivalent of a jalopy, the NRX reactor was like a sportscar. Designed with a power output of 10 megawatts, the NRX reactor would vault Chalk River into a world-leading position when it began operations in July, 1947. Writing in the journal Physics Today, Wilfred Bennett Lewis, a Cambridge-trained nuclear physicist who had by then arrived to take charge of the Chalk River lab, extolled the machine’s capabilities, especially its high rate of neutron production.
The Globe and Mail's front page from Dec. 13, 1952, reports on the evacuation of Chalk River workers due to 'an abnormal amount of radioactive particles.'The image of a smooth and technically sophisticated operation was shattered on Dec. 12, 1952. On that day, the reactor was set at low power with a number of tubes disconnected from the coolant system as part of a test.
The power of the reactor began to double about every two seconds. Within 20 seconds, those in the control room realized there was still a problem. A manual trip switch was hit, but only one control rod descended instead of the expected four and power continued to increase. Using geiger counters, specialists from the Royal Canadian Engineers check for radiation in December, 1952.W.B. Lewis, the British-born head of research and development at the Chalk River lab, wrote the official report into the cause of the accident.Fortunately, the accident produced no harmful effects for those at Chalk River. It could have been worse.
“It’s actually provided quite a bit of experimental knowledge over the years,” he added. “But it’s not the way you would want to go about doing it.” In a speech delivered years later, Adm. Rickover said that he asked the Canadian government for permission to send a team to Chalk River to help. The goal was to learn as much as to assist. What had happened to the NRX reactor was unprecedented and it offered an opportunity to gain practical experience at dealing with a real life nuclear accident.According to his memoirs, Mr.
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