The status of criticality accident dosimetry in the UK

The chronicle of McLaughlin et al. (2000) details how multiple process criticality accidents occurred in the 1950s and 1960s when criticality safety programmes were in their infancy and when operator training was often overlooked. A period of relative calm prevailed after 1970 as strict mass controls and administrative procedures were introduced together with criticality education programmes. However, the incidents at Sarov in 1997 (IAEA 2001) and Tokaimura in 1999 (IAEA 1999, Inaba 2000, Endo 2010) demonstrate that a fatal accident can occur even in a mature nuclear infrastructure with well-defined safety parameters.