 INES 2 |
Cobalt-60 contaminated steel slabs sent to Italian shipyard from a foundry in Macedonia |
For the description see attached event report drafted by the involved ANPA expert and contact person (coordinates given below). The contamination was discovered on 15 October 2001, when scraps from the contaminated material were sent together with other steel parts to a scrap yard near Ancona, but the material had been received by the shipyards around mid-June 2001.
Rating Justification:
The event was rated at level 2, based on the defence in depth approach (Table V "Rating events using the layers approach", page 38 of the 2001 INES manual), considering that no safety layers remain and procedural inadequacies. The rating was not straightforward (examples V-1.2 and V-1.3 were of some help). the on-site impact approach was not considered applicable since the shipyards are obviously non-nuclear installations and the workers involved are not radiation workers.
It was estimated that non-radiation workers were likely exposed to doses below the yearly limit for members of the public (1 mSv). In any case their exposures are to be considered as non-justified.
If undetected, the event could have lead to undue and potentially serious overexposure of a significant number of additional persons on the ships.
Event date: Mon, 15-10-2001
