Huntingdon Accident
The Huntingdon Accident was an antimatter containment accident localised to Huntingdon, a city near Cambridge. It occurred in early 2181 after the abandonment of a convoy transporting approximately 10 mg of antihydrogen due to a flash thunderstorm. The accident prompted the tightening of safety protocols surrounding antimatter transportation, ensured strict liability for those in custody of antimatter, and mandated the use of hermetically sealed containment vessels that resisted environmental damage.
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| Date | 3 April 2181 |
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| Time | 23:11 BST (UTC+01:00) |
| Location | Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Great Britain |
| Coordinates | 52°19′50″N 0°11′11″W / 52.3305°N 0.1865°W |
| Type | Industrial accident |
| Cause | Penning trap power failure from weather ingress leading to loss of antimatter containment |
| Outcome | Strengthened antimatter regulations |
| Deaths | 11 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 26 |
| Property damage | Hundreds of buildings destroyed |
| Displaced | 730,000 |
| Accused | |
Accident
The contained antihydrogen produced in the accident was intended for laboratory use at Metatron Exophysics in Cambridge. It was produced at the European Antimatter Factory (EAF) at the CERN Campus in Meyrin, Geneva, and flown to RAF Wyton, where the containment vessel was loaded into a standard reefer truck for escort to Cambridge.
While passing through Huntingdon, a flash thunderstorm flooded the road and swamped the convoy, forcing it and its military escort to evacuate. Over the next 6 hours, the floodwater infiltrated the truck and eventually the antimatter containment vessel, causing the magnetic field of the Penning trap to collapse and instantly allowing the antihydrogen to come into contact with the walls of the trap.
The resulting annihilation created an explosion equivalent to around 430 tons of TNT. Due to the area's evacuation due to the storm, many inhabitants of the city already resided in civil shelters, resulting in only 37 casualties. Many others were treated for acute radiation sickness, due to the intense gamma burst given off from the annihilation. Numerous surrounding buildings were destroyed. Metatron later committed to financing the neighbourhood's reconstruction.