Discussion

Viscount Hanworth, House of Lords

Bearing in mind the difficulty of definition, how much of the nuclear core inventory escaped at Chernobyl? How would you answer the laymanfs question: what would be the effect if, say 60% of the inventory had escaped? Why is this impossible, if it is the case that it is impossible?

DR J. H. GITTUS, UKAEA

About 3% of the actual weight of the core itself was ejected, 10-15% of the volatile radio-nucleides, i.e. caesium and iodine, escaped from the core into the atmosphere, about 3% of the other radio-nucleides escaped and probably 100% of the noble gases, zenon and krypton.