International Nuclear Event Scale
24/8/199
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) was introduced in 1990 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to enable prompt communication of safety significant information in case of nuclear accidents. It ranges from 0 (Deviation) - No safety significance, and increases on a logarithmic scale to 7 (Major Incident). There have been 2 level 7 incidents, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Both these disasters had a 'major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures'.
In the UK the worst disaster was a Level 5 (Accident with wider consequences) at Windscale (Now Sellafield) in Cumbria. In 1957, A fire in the metallic uranium fuel released radioactive pile material as dust into the environment. The Three Mile Island partial meltdown in the US in 1979 was similarly classed as a level 5. There have been several level 4 (Accident with local consequences) incidents across the UK, mostly at Sellafield.
At the Fringe tonight we have Dr George Loumakis - Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment at Glasgow Caledonian University, talking a critical look at the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters. 7:20, Banshee Labyrinth FREE ENTRY.