Irradiation/Accelerators Facility
| Types of facilities | ||
|---|---|---|
 INES 2 |
Extremity Overexposure to Radiation Worker |
One of the licensee's cyclotron operators received an extremity acute overexposure of 530 mSv (53.01 rem) to the right finger during the month of September as a result of cyclotron operations. The acute exposure brought the individual's total extremity exposure to 690 mSv (69 rem) for the year. The Regulatory Authority for this cyclotron, the State of Kansas, is continuing their investigation of the incident.
INES 4 |
Overexposure of workers at irradiation facility - follow up |
History
The gamma-irradiation facility (GIF), located in the town of Stamboliyski, was put into operation in 1980, charged with 49 sealed Co-60 sources with a total activity of 426 TBq. The GIF was owned by the Agricultural Academy and had been used for the irradiation of food and agricultural products, as well as for scientific experiments.
From 1997 till 2005 the GIF has not been used for its intended purpose and the sources were temporarily stored in the facility. In 2005, the sources were transferred for long-term storage to the Novi Han RAW Repository.
INES 2 |
Overexposure to Radiation Workers |
During loading of a 44.8 TBq (1210 curie) Co-60 source into an industrial irradiator at the licensee's New Jersey facility, approximately 10 cm of the 20 cm source somehow became dislodged for approximately 25 to 30 seconds, exposing two service personnel (radiation workers) and a radiation safety officer (RSO) the licensee had employed under reciprocity using a Pennsylvania license. The service personnel were working under the supervision and direction of the Pennsylvania licensee. The insertion tool prevented the workers from re-inserting the dislodged source quickly.
INES 3 |
Worker over exposure |
Dose in excess of regulatory limits to a worker operating in a bunker where a cobalt source was used, in Toulouse
On Wednesday 12th March 2008, a worker of the HIREX Engineering company working for the ONERA company was incidentally exposed during several minutes to a cobalt-60 source of high activity (18,5 TBq thus of category 1) (cf. ASN Notice of 18th March 2008 on www.asn.fr).
INES 4 |
Overexposure of employee in irradiation facility |
Fleurus, Belgium is the site of a Sterigenics irradiation sterilization facility, performing principally medical device sterilization. The facility uses gamma radiation emitted from sealed cobalt 60 isotope source. The cobalt 60 source is strictly contained in a thick concrete containment vessel.
When not in operation, this source is stored in a water pool. A secured hydraulic system allows taking the source out of this pool in order to irradiate the products put in the cell. Safety locks prevent the system to take the source out of the pool when the door of the cell is open.
INES 3 |
Potential Personnel Overexposure at Irradiator Facility |
On April 21, 2004, an event occurred at an NRC-licensed panoramic wet-source-storage pool irradiator used for sterilization of medical supplies. The irradiator contains two source racks that operate simultaneously, each containing approximately 74 petabecquerel (2 million curies) of cobalt-60, for a total of 148 petabecquerel (4 million curies). The irradiator operator was experiencing problems with the source rack upper-limit switch (up-switch) and attempted to repair it. The up-switch’s function is to signal when the source racks are in the raised, exposed position.
INES 2 |
OVEREXPOSURE OF WORKER DUE TO THE MALFUNCTION OF THE INTERLOCK SYSTEM |
On Nov. 17, 1992 a radiological incident occurred in the Vietnam National Center for Sciences, Hanoi. Due to the malfunction of the interlock system and bad co-ordination the operator started up the Microtron MT-17 while one of his co-workers was manipulating sample in the irradiation compartment and his hands were seriously irradiated by Bremsstrahlung radiation during two-four minutes. Twenty days after the incident the hands of the victim appeared to have been deeply burnt. The victim has been under medical treatment since then.
INES 3 |
COBALT-60 SOURCE LOSS |
One piece of a Cobalt 60 source was lost in Xinshou District, Shanxi Province, which caused on Dec. 3, 1992, the death of Mr. Zhan Youchang who picked up the lost Cobalt-60 source. His brother and father also died due to overexposure on December 7 and 10, respectively.
The lost Cocalt 60 source has been found and stored safely.
