472
The power of the atom
Real large-scale nuclear catastrophe in history chelovechestvak fortunately not too many.
But domestic cases, improper handling of radioactive materials - more than enough, despite the apparent unavailability of the latter.
Below is an overview of such minikatastrof.
1962. Mexico, Mexico City
From industrial orphan radioactive source of cobalt-60 were exposed to five people. Four of them have received a dose of 990 rem to 5200, died (IAEA, 1988; Ortiz etal, 2000).
January 11, 1963. China, Sanlian
Two residents of the Chinese city of stolen radioactive source Cobalt-60 irradiator of industrial seeds and a few days kept him at home. They got a dose of up to 8 thousand, rem, and died 12 days later. Four more were exposed to a dose of about 20 rem (IAEA, '988; Mould, 2000; Ortiz, 2000).
May 3, 1968. Argentina, La Plata
Working for 17 hours carried in his pocket industrial radiography source of cesium-137, he received a dose of local irradiation to 1700 rad. As a result of the victim were amputated both legs. Seventeen workers have been in contact with him during this period, he suffered from radiation at doses up to 40 rad (Ortiz, 2000).
May 5, 1978. Algiers, Setif
Radiographic source of iridium-192 25 Key activity was lost during transportation. Two girls - three and seven years - found it and gave his grandmother, who put this finding in the kitchen table, thus exposing radiation family of seven. The grandmother later died from radiation damage. Her cousin, who lived with her, there was a spontaneous abortion, two others suffered serious radiation burns that led later one of them to cancer. The children received a total dose of 100 - 140 rem and higher local on a limb as a result they were amputated fingers and transplanted piece of skin (Cosset, 2002; IAEA, 1988; Ortiz et al, 2000: Weaver 1995).
June 5, 1979. USA, California, the city of Los Angeles
When working with industrial radiography on the construction site was lost radioactive iridium-192 source of activity 25 Ci. He found work, put it in his trouser pocket, and after 45 minutes brought business leaders. During this time, workers were high local dose of radiation (60 tys.ber to a depth of 1 cm), which required a transplant of his skin. Four other worker suffered radiation source. Total radiation exposure were subjected to 11 people (Beck, 1980; Ortiz et al, 2000: UNSCEAR, 2000).
January 1, 1982. India, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad
Five-year girl and her three-year brother died of severe radiation burns after contact with the waste discarded from the plant to produce nuclear fuel. They were next to her mother when she was collecting firewood near a nuclear facility (Let the Facts Speak, 1992).
September 2nd, 1982. Norway, Kjeller, Institute of Energy Technology
Technicians servicing industrial irradiator for sterilizing instruments, not knowing the real danger posed by the radioactive source of cobalt-60 activity of 65 thousand. Key ruled him out of the building. After 25 minunogo contact with the source, he fell ill and was gospitalizirovan.Fakt overexposure is not immediately revealed. A worker died after two weeks: expected - from a heart attack. But later we found that he died from radiation sickness, and its total exposure dose of 2,200 rem (Regulla, Detfner, 1989).
December 6, 1983. Mexico, Ciudad Juarez
In the scrap yard Additions Disposals medical radiotherapy installations containing about 6 thousand. Pellets Cobalt - 60 1 mm total activity 400 Ci. Source container was deliberately destroyed and the radioactive beads were scattered on the warehouse. Then, together with scrap metal they hit the steel plant, where they were melted down. From the resulting metal fabricated metal constructions for tables, which were sold in the city Some of them were sent to the United States, radioactive impurities in the metal found only January 16, 1984, when the hapless tables arrived at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Automatic radiation detectors identified their increased radioactivity. Only a few weeks in the US was discovered 931 tons of radioactive metal, in 40 states in the US have found about 2,500 radioactively contaminated tables Most of them were taken from the warehouse. Some were even in restaurants, in February 1985, the Mexican authorities have reported that in their country of four people received doses of 100 to 450 rem from contact with the products of radioactive metal, in March 1985 the United States conducted in Mexico aerial radiation study and found about 20 radioactive forested terrain, Sinaloa The city was destroyed 109 homes built with contaminated metal, As a result, one working in Mexico, died of bone cancer, and four received various diseases associated with radiation injury. Total overexposure undergone ten (Lister, 1985: Mould, 2000)
March 4, 1984. Morocco, Casablanca
In the course of the enterprise faded industrial X-ray source of iridium-192 activity 16 Ci. The worker who found him, bring power to your home and put on the table in the bedroom. Dangerous discovery lay there for a few weeks. The irradiation resulted in the death of eight members of the employee's family and significant overexposure even three people (Mould, 2000: Ortiz et al. 2000: Biau. 2001).
June 19th, 1984. USSR, Moscow
In the courtyard of the house №40 Bldg. 19 Street innovator in the area of 70 thousand sq. Meters 244 identified centers of radioactive pollution radionuclide cesium-137. The depth of the contamination was 40 centimeters. The dose - 1, 9 P / h. If decontamination area was removed 39, 4 tons of radioactively contaminated soil. On exposure of the population there is no information in the future in repeated surveys in 1988. 1990 and 1994 here was discovered a number of local centers with radiation levels up to 1 mR / h (Roshydromet Yearbook, 1996)
July 12, 1984. USSR Kuibyshev region, Togliatti
When checking the actual presence of radioactive gauges in the software "Kuybyshevfosfor" it was found the absence of one of them. The investigation revealed that in June 1983 a container with radioactive cesium-137 source took two locksmith trainee. They brought it to the locksmith's shop and sawed in half. Not finding anything of value inside, dropped stolen trainees in the corner, and spilled powder is brushed on the floor with debris and dust, he was posted to the territory of the plant, during the year unsuspecting workers were exposed to radiation from contaminated equipment and materials. In the locker room personnel radiation dose rate reaches hundreds mR / h, and on the floor of the ill-fated studio to 1 R / h, a result of the kidnappers received radiation burns of hands and more than 20 employees intact was found inside the infecting organism cesium-137 Trophy, 2005).
13 September 1987 year. Brazil, the State of Goias, Goiania
The biggest incident radiation dispersal of radioactive material stolen from a radioactive source. Two scavengers found in an abandoned medical clinic radiotherapy unit removed from a steel container with radioactive cesium-137 powder activity 1375 Ci and brought it home. On the same day in both health deteriorated, nausea and vomiting began. Five days later, the radioactive source was sold junk dealer. that night noticed a blue glow emanating from the container. Over the next three days he invited home to relatives. to entertain their unusual spectacle. Then the container was opened, and the highly radioactive cesium chloride powder host began to give as gifts. People apply it to your skin, trying to impress friends at parties: becoming part of the destroyed container on the table during the meal. By 28 September, when everyone exposed to the powder were serious health problems, my wife drove the remnants of the source of junk on a bus to a nearby hospital. On September 29, the city began a large-scale event to respond to a radiological accident. The stadium Goiania surveyed 112 thousand. Residents. It identified 249 persons exposed to radiation, 129 of them have received external and internal lesions appeared in 14 different degrees of bone marrow suppression, eight - clinical signs of acute radiation syndrome. 19 - suffered local radiation burns. Four people with a total dose of 450 to 600 rem dead (including one child). The fifth died a few years later. The 85 houses Goiânia was found significant contamination, 7 houses completely destroyed. Radiation levels in the most polluted areas reach 100-200 R / h. Six weeks were collected and dumped 350 cubic meters of radioactively contaminated soil. Banks Goiania checked 10 million banknotes - 68 of them were contaminated with radioactive cesium. Residents of Goiania for months been subjected to particular discrimination - they were denied boarding the buses, trains and planes, they are not settled in hotels in other regions of the country. More than 8 thousand. Residents received the official certificate stating that they have not been contaminated by radioactive materials.
Seriously affected the economy of the city and the state. Products manufactured in Goiânia, unsaleable - buyers fear of radiation. Collapsed tourism industry is not only the city but also the state. This led to a reduction of the gross national product Goias 15 percent. It took more than five years. to reach its former level (IAEA. 1988: IAEA, 1988 a; Oliveira et al. 1991; IAEA, 1996: IAEA. 1998).
June 3, 1988, the United States, Georgia, Decatur
The leak of cesium-137 in a plant for radiation sterilization. Radioactive contamination 70 thousand medical packaging containers and cartons of milk. Injured ten employees of the enterprise (List of nuclear accidents, 2004).
June 17th, 1988. USSR, Moscow region, pos. Zhostovo
1 kilometer from the village, Zhostovo near wetland pond area of about 45 thousand sq. Meters registered 49 centers of radioactive pollution with a maximum radiation level of 430 mR / h. A detailed examination of 350 meters from the reservoir was discovered a cache of a source of ionizing radiation of cesium-137, and in the pond - a bag of homemade lead container. The maximum value of the dose rate at the site was 5 F / h, and a source found in the cache - 300 R / h. Radioactive contamination has also been observed in the silt and turf. As a result, decontamination removed more than 13 tons of radioactive waste and 17 tons of radioactive contamination of the soil (Roshydromet Yearbook 1996).
October 26, 1991. Belarus, the city Shults
An accident during repair installation of radiation sterilization of medical instruments based on the source of cobalt-60 activity 30 PBq. The operator has disabled the security system provided in the camera exposure to make repairs near the source. As a result, he received a total dose of about 1100 rem. Despite intensive treatment people died 113 days after the accident (IAEA, 1996).
February 26, 1996. USA, Texas, Houston
Three unemployed stole the company is in a state of bankruptcy, three containers of radioactive sources (two sources of cobalt-60 activity 8, 6 Key and one - iridium-192 activity 35 Ci). Destroying symbol indicates a radiation hazard, they sold them to a scrap dealer. During the week, three containers resold until they were found and seized by the Bureau of Radiation Control of the Texas Department of Health. Overexposure underwent eleven adults (at doses ranging from 15 to 55 rem) and two children (40 rem) (NRC. 1996).
July 24, 1996. Iran, Gilan
An employee found the thermal power plant on its container the size of a pencil and put it in his breast pocket. This container, as it later turned out, had been lost from the system of industrial radiography. After 1, 5 hours from the finder began dizziness, nausea, he felt a burning inside. After 3 hours, it had to be hospitalized. According to calculations, the employee received a total dose of 450 rem and large local dose of radiation to the breast (up to 5 thousand, rad). The victim required reconstructive surgery (IAEA. 2002).
1996. Russia, Roshydromet
Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring in its yearbook "The radiation situation in Russia in 1995" published its first inventory of areas of radioactive contamination, radiation levels which exceed 1 R / h. They were identified organizations of concern "Exploration." The main reasons for the number of anomalies have become orphan sources of ionizing radiation, radioactive waste, devices and objects with radium of Constant, the radioactive construction materials, fertilizers and waste. In total during the survey in 227 villages was found 13,634 sites of radioactive contamination. More than half of them were in a residential part of the city areas. It gives the right to assume that radiation exposure for a long time been subjected to hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting citizens (Roshydromet Yearbook, 1996)
October 12, 1997. Georgia, pos. Lilo (20 kilometers east of Tbilisi)
The radiation accident in the middle of training to border guards on the territory of former Soviet military bases from June 1996 to October 1997, 11 young cadets received radiation burns of varying severity from were there orphan radioactive sources, in August 1997, 11 sources of cesium-137 activity 4 Key They were detected in each spot for training in one of the underground shelters in the center. It was also found 200 disassembled optical devices containing radium-226. September 13 a small radioactive source was removed from the pocket of one of the students, 11 October 11 people were identified as having received radiation damage, and the four most affected were sent to clinics in Moscow and Paris, where he underwent surgery for skin grafting. Doses were in the range of 20 to 590 rem (IAEA, 2000).
May 30, 1998. Spain, Algeciras
Orphan radioactive source cesium-137 activity 100 Ci accidentally melted in a kiln plant for the production of stainless steel in the south of Spain. He got there with scrap metal for recycling arrived by sea from the United States via Rotterdam, and was not detected radiation detectors at the entrance to the company (the sensors were not functioning properly). The result has been seriously polluted area of the plant, and cesium were released into the environment. The cost of clean-up activities for the company exceeded 6 million euros (Estevan, 2003).
January 8, 1999. Turkey, Istanbul
Two containers with radioactive cobalt-60 source, previously used in radiotherapy installation and stored in a warehouse in Istanbul, it was sold as scrap. December 10, 1998 buyers opened them. Three days later, ten people exposed to radioactively contaminated materials are sick. At the hospital, local doctors have linked them with radiation sickness. December 28 one source (activity 88 Ci) has been sent to the dump.
January 8, 1999, two victims of the radiation applied to the private clinic. On suspicion of radiation damage was reported to the local authorities, and in a few hours the source found and seized from the landfill. The second container was never found (according to the reports of its activity was approximately 600 Ci). As a result of this incident radiation irradiating ten people in doses of 60 to 310 rems. Five people were acute radiation syndrome, and one - radiation burns the skin on the fingers of one hand (IAEA, 2000).
February 20, 1999. Peru, Yanango
Welder local hydroelectric operator picked up a lost industrial radiographic installation radioactive source Iridium-192 and put it in his trouser pocket. After six hours, the workers began to experience pain in the back of the right thigh and left home with the source that led to the exposure of several members of his family. Operator of radiologist, discovered the theft of iridium-192, rushed to the welder and confiscated his source. The victim received a total dose of 150 rem, as well as local - about 10 thousand. Rad on the buttocks, causing him leg was amputated (IAEA, 2000).
September 14, 1999. Russia, Chechen Republic, Grozny
Six people have decided to steal radioactive materials in the chemical factory. They opened the protective container and stole several 12-inch metal rods (radioactive sources cobalt-60 activity of 27 thousand. Key each). One of the men manually transfer sources died within an hour after that.
Source:
But domestic cases, improper handling of radioactive materials - more than enough, despite the apparent unavailability of the latter.
Below is an overview of such minikatastrof.
1962. Mexico, Mexico City
From industrial orphan radioactive source of cobalt-60 were exposed to five people. Four of them have received a dose of 990 rem to 5200, died (IAEA, 1988; Ortiz etal, 2000).
January 11, 1963. China, Sanlian
Two residents of the Chinese city of stolen radioactive source Cobalt-60 irradiator of industrial seeds and a few days kept him at home. They got a dose of up to 8 thousand, rem, and died 12 days later. Four more were exposed to a dose of about 20 rem (IAEA, '988; Mould, 2000; Ortiz, 2000).
May 3, 1968. Argentina, La Plata
Working for 17 hours carried in his pocket industrial radiography source of cesium-137, he received a dose of local irradiation to 1700 rad. As a result of the victim were amputated both legs. Seventeen workers have been in contact with him during this period, he suffered from radiation at doses up to 40 rad (Ortiz, 2000).
May 5, 1978. Algiers, Setif
Radiographic source of iridium-192 25 Key activity was lost during transportation. Two girls - three and seven years - found it and gave his grandmother, who put this finding in the kitchen table, thus exposing radiation family of seven. The grandmother later died from radiation damage. Her cousin, who lived with her, there was a spontaneous abortion, two others suffered serious radiation burns that led later one of them to cancer. The children received a total dose of 100 - 140 rem and higher local on a limb as a result they were amputated fingers and transplanted piece of skin (Cosset, 2002; IAEA, 1988; Ortiz et al, 2000: Weaver 1995).
June 5, 1979. USA, California, the city of Los Angeles
When working with industrial radiography on the construction site was lost radioactive iridium-192 source of activity 25 Ci. He found work, put it in his trouser pocket, and after 45 minutes brought business leaders. During this time, workers were high local dose of radiation (60 tys.ber to a depth of 1 cm), which required a transplant of his skin. Four other worker suffered radiation source. Total radiation exposure were subjected to 11 people (Beck, 1980; Ortiz et al, 2000: UNSCEAR, 2000).
January 1, 1982. India, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad
Five-year girl and her three-year brother died of severe radiation burns after contact with the waste discarded from the plant to produce nuclear fuel. They were next to her mother when she was collecting firewood near a nuclear facility (Let the Facts Speak, 1992).
September 2nd, 1982. Norway, Kjeller, Institute of Energy Technology
Technicians servicing industrial irradiator for sterilizing instruments, not knowing the real danger posed by the radioactive source of cobalt-60 activity of 65 thousand. Key ruled him out of the building. After 25 minunogo contact with the source, he fell ill and was gospitalizirovan.Fakt overexposure is not immediately revealed. A worker died after two weeks: expected - from a heart attack. But later we found that he died from radiation sickness, and its total exposure dose of 2,200 rem (Regulla, Detfner, 1989).
December 6, 1983. Mexico, Ciudad Juarez
In the scrap yard Additions Disposals medical radiotherapy installations containing about 6 thousand. Pellets Cobalt - 60 1 mm total activity 400 Ci. Source container was deliberately destroyed and the radioactive beads were scattered on the warehouse. Then, together with scrap metal they hit the steel plant, where they were melted down. From the resulting metal fabricated metal constructions for tables, which were sold in the city Some of them were sent to the United States, radioactive impurities in the metal found only January 16, 1984, when the hapless tables arrived at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Automatic radiation detectors identified their increased radioactivity. Only a few weeks in the US was discovered 931 tons of radioactive metal, in 40 states in the US have found about 2,500 radioactively contaminated tables Most of them were taken from the warehouse. Some were even in restaurants, in February 1985, the Mexican authorities have reported that in their country of four people received doses of 100 to 450 rem from contact with the products of radioactive metal, in March 1985 the United States conducted in Mexico aerial radiation study and found about 20 radioactive forested terrain, Sinaloa The city was destroyed 109 homes built with contaminated metal, As a result, one working in Mexico, died of bone cancer, and four received various diseases associated with radiation injury. Total overexposure undergone ten (Lister, 1985: Mould, 2000)
March 4, 1984. Morocco, Casablanca
In the course of the enterprise faded industrial X-ray source of iridium-192 activity 16 Ci. The worker who found him, bring power to your home and put on the table in the bedroom. Dangerous discovery lay there for a few weeks. The irradiation resulted in the death of eight members of the employee's family and significant overexposure even three people (Mould, 2000: Ortiz et al. 2000: Biau. 2001).
June 19th, 1984. USSR, Moscow
In the courtyard of the house №40 Bldg. 19 Street innovator in the area of 70 thousand sq. Meters 244 identified centers of radioactive pollution radionuclide cesium-137. The depth of the contamination was 40 centimeters. The dose - 1, 9 P / h. If decontamination area was removed 39, 4 tons of radioactively contaminated soil. On exposure of the population there is no information in the future in repeated surveys in 1988. 1990 and 1994 here was discovered a number of local centers with radiation levels up to 1 mR / h (Roshydromet Yearbook, 1996)
July 12, 1984. USSR Kuibyshev region, Togliatti
When checking the actual presence of radioactive gauges in the software "Kuybyshevfosfor" it was found the absence of one of them. The investigation revealed that in June 1983 a container with radioactive cesium-137 source took two locksmith trainee. They brought it to the locksmith's shop and sawed in half. Not finding anything of value inside, dropped stolen trainees in the corner, and spilled powder is brushed on the floor with debris and dust, he was posted to the territory of the plant, during the year unsuspecting workers were exposed to radiation from contaminated equipment and materials. In the locker room personnel radiation dose rate reaches hundreds mR / h, and on the floor of the ill-fated studio to 1 R / h, a result of the kidnappers received radiation burns of hands and more than 20 employees intact was found inside the infecting organism cesium-137 Trophy, 2005).
13 September 1987 year. Brazil, the State of Goias, Goiania
The biggest incident radiation dispersal of radioactive material stolen from a radioactive source. Two scavengers found in an abandoned medical clinic radiotherapy unit removed from a steel container with radioactive cesium-137 powder activity 1375 Ci and brought it home. On the same day in both health deteriorated, nausea and vomiting began. Five days later, the radioactive source was sold junk dealer. that night noticed a blue glow emanating from the container. Over the next three days he invited home to relatives. to entertain their unusual spectacle. Then the container was opened, and the highly radioactive cesium chloride powder host began to give as gifts. People apply it to your skin, trying to impress friends at parties: becoming part of the destroyed container on the table during the meal. By 28 September, when everyone exposed to the powder were serious health problems, my wife drove the remnants of the source of junk on a bus to a nearby hospital. On September 29, the city began a large-scale event to respond to a radiological accident. The stadium Goiania surveyed 112 thousand. Residents. It identified 249 persons exposed to radiation, 129 of them have received external and internal lesions appeared in 14 different degrees of bone marrow suppression, eight - clinical signs of acute radiation syndrome. 19 - suffered local radiation burns. Four people with a total dose of 450 to 600 rem dead (including one child). The fifth died a few years later. The 85 houses Goiânia was found significant contamination, 7 houses completely destroyed. Radiation levels in the most polluted areas reach 100-200 R / h. Six weeks were collected and dumped 350 cubic meters of radioactively contaminated soil. Banks Goiania checked 10 million banknotes - 68 of them were contaminated with radioactive cesium. Residents of Goiania for months been subjected to particular discrimination - they were denied boarding the buses, trains and planes, they are not settled in hotels in other regions of the country. More than 8 thousand. Residents received the official certificate stating that they have not been contaminated by radioactive materials.
Seriously affected the economy of the city and the state. Products manufactured in Goiânia, unsaleable - buyers fear of radiation. Collapsed tourism industry is not only the city but also the state. This led to a reduction of the gross national product Goias 15 percent. It took more than five years. to reach its former level (IAEA. 1988: IAEA, 1988 a; Oliveira et al. 1991; IAEA, 1996: IAEA. 1998).
June 3, 1988, the United States, Georgia, Decatur
The leak of cesium-137 in a plant for radiation sterilization. Radioactive contamination 70 thousand medical packaging containers and cartons of milk. Injured ten employees of the enterprise (List of nuclear accidents, 2004).
June 17th, 1988. USSR, Moscow region, pos. Zhostovo
1 kilometer from the village, Zhostovo near wetland pond area of about 45 thousand sq. Meters registered 49 centers of radioactive pollution with a maximum radiation level of 430 mR / h. A detailed examination of 350 meters from the reservoir was discovered a cache of a source of ionizing radiation of cesium-137, and in the pond - a bag of homemade lead container. The maximum value of the dose rate at the site was 5 F / h, and a source found in the cache - 300 R / h. Radioactive contamination has also been observed in the silt and turf. As a result, decontamination removed more than 13 tons of radioactive waste and 17 tons of radioactive contamination of the soil (Roshydromet Yearbook 1996).
October 26, 1991. Belarus, the city Shults
An accident during repair installation of radiation sterilization of medical instruments based on the source of cobalt-60 activity 30 PBq. The operator has disabled the security system provided in the camera exposure to make repairs near the source. As a result, he received a total dose of about 1100 rem. Despite intensive treatment people died 113 days after the accident (IAEA, 1996).
February 26, 1996. USA, Texas, Houston
Three unemployed stole the company is in a state of bankruptcy, three containers of radioactive sources (two sources of cobalt-60 activity 8, 6 Key and one - iridium-192 activity 35 Ci). Destroying symbol indicates a radiation hazard, they sold them to a scrap dealer. During the week, three containers resold until they were found and seized by the Bureau of Radiation Control of the Texas Department of Health. Overexposure underwent eleven adults (at doses ranging from 15 to 55 rem) and two children (40 rem) (NRC. 1996).
July 24, 1996. Iran, Gilan
An employee found the thermal power plant on its container the size of a pencil and put it in his breast pocket. This container, as it later turned out, had been lost from the system of industrial radiography. After 1, 5 hours from the finder began dizziness, nausea, he felt a burning inside. After 3 hours, it had to be hospitalized. According to calculations, the employee received a total dose of 450 rem and large local dose of radiation to the breast (up to 5 thousand, rad). The victim required reconstructive surgery (IAEA. 2002).
1996. Russia, Roshydromet
Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring in its yearbook "The radiation situation in Russia in 1995" published its first inventory of areas of radioactive contamination, radiation levels which exceed 1 R / h. They were identified organizations of concern "Exploration." The main reasons for the number of anomalies have become orphan sources of ionizing radiation, radioactive waste, devices and objects with radium of Constant, the radioactive construction materials, fertilizers and waste. In total during the survey in 227 villages was found 13,634 sites of radioactive contamination. More than half of them were in a residential part of the city areas. It gives the right to assume that radiation exposure for a long time been subjected to hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting citizens (Roshydromet Yearbook, 1996)
October 12, 1997. Georgia, pos. Lilo (20 kilometers east of Tbilisi)
The radiation accident in the middle of training to border guards on the territory of former Soviet military bases from June 1996 to October 1997, 11 young cadets received radiation burns of varying severity from were there orphan radioactive sources, in August 1997, 11 sources of cesium-137 activity 4 Key They were detected in each spot for training in one of the underground shelters in the center. It was also found 200 disassembled optical devices containing radium-226. September 13 a small radioactive source was removed from the pocket of one of the students, 11 October 11 people were identified as having received radiation damage, and the four most affected were sent to clinics in Moscow and Paris, where he underwent surgery for skin grafting. Doses were in the range of 20 to 590 rem (IAEA, 2000).
May 30, 1998. Spain, Algeciras
Orphan radioactive source cesium-137 activity 100 Ci accidentally melted in a kiln plant for the production of stainless steel in the south of Spain. He got there with scrap metal for recycling arrived by sea from the United States via Rotterdam, and was not detected radiation detectors at the entrance to the company (the sensors were not functioning properly). The result has been seriously polluted area of the plant, and cesium were released into the environment. The cost of clean-up activities for the company exceeded 6 million euros (Estevan, 2003).
January 8, 1999. Turkey, Istanbul
Two containers with radioactive cobalt-60 source, previously used in radiotherapy installation and stored in a warehouse in Istanbul, it was sold as scrap. December 10, 1998 buyers opened them. Three days later, ten people exposed to radioactively contaminated materials are sick. At the hospital, local doctors have linked them with radiation sickness. December 28 one source (activity 88 Ci) has been sent to the dump.
January 8, 1999, two victims of the radiation applied to the private clinic. On suspicion of radiation damage was reported to the local authorities, and in a few hours the source found and seized from the landfill. The second container was never found (according to the reports of its activity was approximately 600 Ci). As a result of this incident radiation irradiating ten people in doses of 60 to 310 rems. Five people were acute radiation syndrome, and one - radiation burns the skin on the fingers of one hand (IAEA, 2000).
February 20, 1999. Peru, Yanango
Welder local hydroelectric operator picked up a lost industrial radiographic installation radioactive source Iridium-192 and put it in his trouser pocket. After six hours, the workers began to experience pain in the back of the right thigh and left home with the source that led to the exposure of several members of his family. Operator of radiologist, discovered the theft of iridium-192, rushed to the welder and confiscated his source. The victim received a total dose of 150 rem, as well as local - about 10 thousand. Rad on the buttocks, causing him leg was amputated (IAEA, 2000).
September 14, 1999. Russia, Chechen Republic, Grozny
Six people have decided to steal radioactive materials in the chemical factory. They opened the protective container and stole several 12-inch metal rods (radioactive sources cobalt-60 activity of 27 thousand. Key each). One of the men manually transfer sources died within an hour after that.
Source:
