 INES 1 |
New equipment with CO-60 in steel flanges in non-nuclear research institute |
On 7 August 2001 a radiation alarm went off at a scrapyard The cause of the alarm seemed to be stainless steel curls with cobalt-60.
The curls originated from a machine-shop, which had made new equipment by order of a non nuclear research institute. The curls at the scrapyard and in the machine-shop were brought in a safe condition on 7 August 2001.
The new equipment was found on 9 August 2001. The flanges of the new equipment contained cobalt-60 in a concentration of about 30 becquerel per gram. On 9 August 2001 the new equipment was brought in a safe condition. The exposure rate at the surface of the flanges was 10 microSievert per hour. In total 17 flanges seemed to be contaminated.
The flanges were supplied by Echjay Forgings Limited, Kanjur Village Road, Kanjur Marg (E), Mumbai-400 042, India. The code on the flanges is: Echia DIN 2576 PN10 NW2000/204.0 316L/1.4404 0-76 H.NO S 310 (PF-1) INDIA.
Rating Justification:
The rating of this incident was not straightforward. On the basis of paragraph IV-3.3.3 (a failure to maintain proper control over radioactive materials, including releases into the environment) and table V of paragraph IV-3.2.2.3 the incident is rated level 1.
Event date: Thu, 09-08-2001
