Xochitlalpan disaster
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| Date | 4 August 2004 |
|---|---|
| Time | 22:11 local time |
| Location | Xochitlalpan, Aztaco Republic, Zacapican |
| Type | Nuclear accident |
| Casualties | |
| Estimated 80,000 affected 5,000 evacuated 71 deaths from radiation sickness | |
The Xochitlalpan disaster was a major radiological contamination accident which took place in the atomaltepetl of Xochitlalpan in the northern plain of the Aztaco Republic in eastern Zacapican. The incident occurred at the Xochitlalpan Atomtic Tequipanco, a important nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, when a nuclear waste storage tank suffered an equipment malfunction that caused it to explode and disperse a large amount radioactive material into the environment. The Xochitlalpan disaster represents the worst nuclear disaster in Zacapine history in terms of the amount of radioactive material released into the environment, and the second worst in terms of the number of people affected by the disaster. 71 people, mainly workers at the plant, died from radiation sickness, with many more workers, rescuers and local residents likewise developing acute radiation syndrome but later recovered. Of these, an unknown number would suffer long term negative health effects as a result of their radiation exposure. The total number of persons exposed to the radioactive contaminants as a result of the accident is unknown, with estimates ranging from just 500 people in the immediate area to as many 80,000 across the wider region of northern Aztaco where the contamination is believed to have been spread by the wind. An initial evacuation saw 18,000 local people temporarily displaced, the majority of whom would be allowed to return to their homes by the December 2004 with around 5,000 people from the town of Xochitlalpan itself and other areas of the exclusion zone being subject to a permanent relocation order.
The accident at the Xochitlalpan facility revealed a lax safety protocols and lack of inspections of critical equipment, a condition which was found to have directly contributed to the disaster. An investigation revealed that safety procedures established when the plant was built in 1973 were gradually stripped away or ignored by the later overseers of the facility. Many of the plant workers who were employed at the Xochitlalpan facility in 2004 were found to have bene improperly trained in many safety procedures and in many cases had not been informed of the potential dangers involved. These conditions at the Xochitlalpan facility had been allowed to continue unabated due to a relative lack of regulatory oversight for nuclear fuel processing facilities compared to nuclear power plants, prompting a swath of new legislation implementing tighter rules, more frequent inspections and high level audits of the nuclear safety agencies to ensure accountability. The numerous cases of serious radiation exposure in rescue and cleanup personnel resulted in the creation of a specialized radiological response unit of the CETZ, the Zacapine emergency management agency, to establish a body of specially trained and equipped personnel to handle any future radiological incidents.