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The legacy of Windscale Pile No. 1
The core of Pile No. 1 at Windscale caught fire in the fall of 1957. The incident, rated a level 5, “Accident with Wider Consequences,” by the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), has since inspired nuclear safety culture, risk assessment, accident modeling, and emergency preparedness. Windscale also helped show how important communication and transparency are to gaining trust and public support.
K. Linga Murty
Nuclear Technology | Volume 67 | Number 1 | October 1984 | Pages 124-131
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT84-A33535
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Improvements in both the yield strength and ductility were noted in mild steel at elevated temperatures (≳315 K) following neutron irradiation to 2 × 1022 n/m2, in contrast to hitherto observed radiation hardening and embrittlement. This beneficial effect was shown to be due to the interaction of interstitial impurities with radiation-produced defects resulting in reduced concentration of interstitial carbon and nitrogen in solution, and thus blue brittleness is suppressed following radiation exposure. Consequently, the energy absorbed by the irradiated material (a measure of toughness) improved at these temperatures. In the temperature range examined, namely from 300 to 550 K, Lüders strain increased following neutron irradiation. While the Lüders strain of unirradiated material exhibited a peak at ∼460 K due to dynamic strain aging, it decreased continuously with test temperature following neutron irradiation. Radiation exposure resulted in decreased rates of work hardening at all of the test temperatures. Peaks in the temperature dependence of the work-hardening parameter are noted for the unirradiated material in the serrated flow regime. Thermal recovery of radiation damage resulted in increased rates of work hardening at elevated temperatures.