February
ERZGEBIRGE, former EAST GERMANY - Details were released of the size and possible cost of the task of cleaning up the 1000 sq km of former uranium mines in the Erzgebirge region. There are hundreds of slag heaps which must be levelled or covered and greened. 1600 km of mine workings to be filled in or flooded; plus more than 300 shafts and tunnels, 85 ventilation shafts and 18 waste ponds to be decontaminated and closed off or reclaimed. The equivalent of 2-5 billion pounds sterling was said to be needed to pay for the cleanup. At least 20,000 former miners contracted lung cancer or silicosis from the 40-year uranium mining operations. (New Scientist, 2/2/91, The Weekend Australian, 27-28/4/91)

9 February
FUKUI, JAPAN - A serious accident occurred in the Mihama nuclear power plant. A pipe in the steam generator burst, leaking 55 tonnes of radioactive primary (reactor) coolant water into the secondary steam-generating circuit. Some radioactivity was released to the atmosphere and the plant's emergency corecooling system was required. MITI reported later that the accident was caused by human error, some anti-vibration bars being wrongly installed by workers and sawn off short to make them fit. (Nuclear News, August 1991, The Age, 23/2/91)

25 April
CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE, U.S.S.R. - The head of a Ukranian parliamentary committee on Chernobyl reported that the concrete and steel casing built around the reactor devastated in 1986 is in danger of collapsing in a blast of radioactive dust. A more detailed appraisal was given simultaneously by a team of Soviet scientists at a conference in Paris. The sarcophagus is deteriorating faster than expected, increasing the risk of water penetration and dust escape. Water entering the still-hot reactor could cause explosions. There is even a risk that, as parts of the structure collapse, radioactive fuel still inside the building may form a critical mass, prompting a self-sustaining fission reaction. At present the sarcophagus contains 180 tonnes of uranium, 570 kilos of plutonium and significant quantities of other transuranic elements. (New Scientist, 27 April 1991; The Canberra Times, 27/4/91)

May
WILMINGTON, N.C., U.S.A. - A potential criticality incident occurred at GE's nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Wilmington. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission later found that workers and managers at the plant were complacent on safety matters and that there had been a general deterioration of criticality safety. (Nuclear News, September 1991)

17 June
HANAU, GERMANY - Sieman's mixed oxide nuclear fuel fabrication plant was closed down as the result of a plutonium leak followed by a leaking roof. Three workers suffered slight contamination. The plutonium leakage was from a damaged container and was graded as an 'B' (urgent) incident. A plant investigation has been ordered (Nuclear Engineering International, August 1991)

22 June
BELLEVILLE-2 PWR, FRANCE - The second Level 2 (IAEA scale) incident was experienced at the Belleville nuclear power plant inside a month. Faulty welds were discovered in the crucial low pressure auxiliary primary coolant system. The earlier Level 2 incident involved failure of two primary water level measuring systems. (Nuclear Engineering International, August 1991)

1 July
SLOVENIA, YUGOSLAVIA - The country's only nuclear power plant was closed down for fear of military attack after three federal jet fighters 'buzzed' the facility. (Nuclear News, August 1991)

10 July
BALLEVILLE-2, FRANCE - Yet another Level 2 incident at Belleville-2. This time, 10 cubic metres of pure (is unboronated) water was allowed to enter the primary circuit through human error. A prescribed level of boron is required in the circuit to keep the reactor core subcritical. (Nuclear News, September 1991)

6 August
MOXLODUY VVER 440, BULGARIA - This reactor, described as probably the most dangerous reactor on earth, suffered a fire in a 400-kv transformer. The fire was well away from reactor buildings, however. (Nuclear News, September 1991)

10 August
CHERNOBYL-2, USSR - A Level 2 incident occurred in which several cubic metres of cooling water leaked while the reactor was shut down for maintenance work. The leak was caused by failure of a pipe seal near the main circulation pumps. (Nuclear News, September 1991)

13 August
NEW YORK STATE, USA - A three-year-old nuclear power reactor at Nine Mile Point malfunctioned and was closed down on the following day. An NRC investigation was begun into reasons why a control room warning system and its backup power supply failed. (The Australian, 15/8/91)

21 August
HUNTERSTON-5 ACR, UK - This advanced gas-cooled nuclear power station requiring up to 40 million gallons of seawater per hour for turbine condenser cooling was shut down when thousands of jellyfish were sucked into the screens of the seawater cooling intake. (Nuclear News, October 1991)

23 August
KARLSRUHE, GERMANY - Workers at the Nuclear Research Centre, Karlsruhe, discovered that an entire nuclear fuel assembly consisting of 37 fuel rods had somehow switched with a dummy (training) assembly. The most likely fate of the active assembly was considered to have been destruction and placement in nuclear waste drums. However, theft ofthe nuclear material was not ruled out. (New Scientist, 5 October 1991)

September
RAWATBHATA, INDIA - Rajasthan, a power station with one of two reactors running at a maxium of 501 capacity and described as 'crippled', caused an uproar in the Indian Parliament because of findings by a medical team that villagers living nearby are suffering from unusual health problems.

These include spontaneous abortions, sterility, deformed children, rare skin diseases and so on. The plant, commissioned in 1973, was shut down at least 250 times during its first decade and has had serious leakage problems throughout the 1980's. A more detailed study of the villagers would become available after six months. (The Age, 23/9/91)

23 September
MURMANSK, U.S.S.R. - More revelations on Soviet nuclear waste dumping off its northern shores from Mr Andrei Zolotkov, a national parliamentarian from Murmansk. He said that the waste, in leaky containers, was dumped in very shallow waters for more than 20 years, and included the damaged reactor core from the nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin, which suffered a meltdown in 1966. (The Sydney Morning Herald, 25/9/91)

11 October
CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE - A major fire occurred at the generator hall served by the still-functioning Chernobyl-2 reactor, wrecking the hall and destroying its roof. The fire was said to have broken out after a turbine had idled for repairs and then was unexpectedly turned on by an automatic switch. The fire took three hours to extinguish and forced a shutdown of Chernobyl-2. The destroyed hall was immediately adjacent to the concrete sarcophagus contining 30 tonnes of radioactive debris from the 1986 accident. (The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 and 15/10/91)

October
HANAU, GERMANY - More trouble at the Siemens nuclear fuel plant. A release of ammonia caused a 'blue fog' and affected nearby forest workers. The chemical section of the main fuel fabrication plant was closed down by the Hesse Government. (Nuclear News, October 1991)

October
VLADIVOSTOK, U.S.S.R. - Information was released concerning a catastrophic accident on a Soviet nuclear submarine which took place on 10th August 1985 during refuelling. Vital contol rods were mistakenly pulled out of the vessel's reactor, causing an explosion which killed 10 sailors and spewed radioactive materials into the air and sea. (The Sydney Morning Herald, 26/10/91)

21 October
FASLANE, SCOTLAND, U.K. - An alert was sparked by a fire on the nuclear powered submarine HMS Sceptre at the Faslane submarine base. The fire, which required two fire engines to extinguish, was later described as occurring in a non-essential switchboard area of the vessel. (The Canberra Times, 22/10/91)