A point kinetics model of the Y12 accident

• The Y12 accident is described and examined.
• A point kinetics model is established to simulate the event.
• Physical correlations are derived where appropriate.
• The model is run and the results are analysed and compared to literature.

A point kinetics model of the 1958 Y12 criticality accident is presented and the relevant parameters are obtained from review of the literature and novel analysis. The results of the simulation are broadly consistent with the literature in terms of the fission rate as a function of time and the total number of fissions. The literature is inconsistent regarding whether the solution boiled during this accident. No boiling is observed in the simulations performed here.