Thomas Tuohy
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(7 November 1917 – 12 March 2008) was deputy to the general manager at the
Windscale nuclear facility when a
major fire erupted on 10 October 1957. He was the leading participant in efforts to put out the fire which was emitting
radioactive contamination
Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of Radioactive decay, radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is uni ...
into the air, and so played a key role in minimising Britain's worst
nuclear disaster
A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "an event that has led to significant consequences to people, the environment or the facility." Examples include lethal effects to individuals, la ...
.
Early life and career
Tuohy was born in
Wallsend
Wallsend () is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of ...
and educated at
St Cuthbert's Grammar School
St Cuthbert's Catholic High School (formerly St Cuthbert's Catholic Grammar School) is a boys-only Roman Catholic secondary school with academy status located on Gretna Road in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Admissions
St Cuthbert's is a seven- ...
in
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...
, and the
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...
.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
he worked for the
Royal Ordnance
Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories (abbreviated ROFs) which manufactured explosives, ammunit ...
as a chemist, and in 1946 joined the nuclear industry, becoming deputy general manager of Windscale in 1957.
Windscale fire
On 10 October 1957 Tuohy was at home, looking after his family, who had flu. He received a telephone call from his boss saying, "Come at once. Pile number one is on fire." On his arrival at Windscale, he removed his radiation recording badge, making it impossible for anyone to know if he had exceeded
permitted radiation dose levels, and made repeated inspections directly into the 80 ft pile. Over the next few hours he was instrumental in directing the efforts which eventually brought the blaze under control.
[
Despite his excessive exposure to radiation that day, Tuohy lived to the age of 90.]CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
in the 1969 New Years honours list.
In 1990, the first of three BBC documentaries on the incident was shown. Titled ''Our Reactor Is on Fire'', the documentary featured interviews with key plant workers, including Tom Tuohy.nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...
. The documentary features interviews with key scientists and plant operators, including Tuohy. The documentary suggests that the fire – the first fire in any nuclear facility – was caused by the relaxation of safety measures, as a result of pressure from the British government to quickly produce fissile material
In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material that can undergo nuclear fission when struck by a neutron of low energy. A self-sustaining thermal chain reaction can only be achieved with fissile material. The predominant neutron energy i ...
s for nuclear weapons.
See also
*Windscale fire
The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in the United Kingdom's history, and one of the worst in the world, ranked in severity at level 5 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The fire was in Unit 1 of ...
References
External links
Windscale: Britain's Biggest Nuclear Disaster (2007) (TV)
People associated with nuclear power
1917 births
2008 deaths
People from Wallsend
People educated at St. Cuthbert's School
Alumni of the University of Reading
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
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