List of civilian radiation accidents
Encyclopedia
This article lists notable civilian accidents involving radioactive
materials or involving ionizing radiation
from artificial sources such as x-ray tube
s and particle accelerators. Accidents related to nuclear power
that involve fissile materials
are listed at List of civilian nuclear accidents. Military accidents are listed at List of military nuclear accidents.
Radioactive decay
Radioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
materials or involving ionizing radiation
Ionizing radiation
Ionizing radiation is radiation composed of particles that individually have sufficient energy to remove an electron from an atom or molecule. This ionization produces free radicals, which are atoms or molecules containing unpaired electrons...
from artificial sources such as x-ray tube
X-ray tube
An X-ray tube is a vacuum tube that produces X-rays. They are used in X-ray machines. X-rays are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, an ionizing radiation with wavelengths shorter than ultraviolet light...
s and particle accelerators. Accidents related to nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
that involve fissile materials
Fissile
In nuclear engineering, a fissile material is one that is capable of sustaining a chain reaction of nuclear fission. By definition, fissile materials can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of any energy. The predominant neutron energy may be typified by either slow neutrons or fast neutrons...
are listed at List of civilian nuclear accidents. Military accidents are listed at List of military nuclear accidents.
Scope of this article
In listing civilian radiation accidents, the following criteria have been followed:- There must be well-attested and substantial health damage, property damage or contamination.
- The damage must be related directly to radioactiveRadioactive decayRadioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
materials or ionizing radiationIonizing radiationIonizing radiation is radiation composed of particles that individually have sufficient energy to remove an electron from an atom or molecule. This ionization produces free radicals, which are atoms or molecules containing unpaired electrons...
from a man-made source, not merely taking place at a facility where such are being used. - To qualify as "civilian", the operation/material must be principally for non-military purposes.
- The event is not an event involving fissile materialFissileIn nuclear engineering, a fissile material is one that is capable of sustaining a chain reaction of nuclear fission. By definition, fissile materials can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of any energy. The predominant neutron energy may be typified by either slow neutrons or fast neutrons...
or a nuclear reactor.
Before 1950s
- Clarence Madison DallyClarence Madison DallyClarence Madison Dally was an American glassblower, noted as an assistant to Thomas Edison in his work on X-rays and as an early victim of radiation dermatitis and its complications.- Early life and education :...
(1865–1904) - No INES level - New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
- Overexposure of laboratory worker - Various dates - No INES level - FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
- Overexposure of scientists- Marie CurieMarie CurieMarie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
(1867–1934) was a Polish-French physicist and chemist. She was a pioneer in the early field of radioactivity, later becoming the first two-time Nobel laureateNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
and the only person with Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry. Her death, at age 67, in 1934 was from aplastic anemiaAplastic anemiaAplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The condition, per its name, involves both aplasia and anemia...
due to massive exposure to radiation in her work, much of which was carried out in a shed with no proper safety measures being taken, as the damaging effects of hard radiation were not generally understood at that time. She was known to carry test tubes full of radioactive isotopes in her pocket, and to store them in her desk drawer, resulting in massive exposure to radiation. She was known to remark on the pretty blue-green light the metals gave off in the dark. Because of their levels of radioactivity, her papers from the 1890s are considered too dangerous to handle. Even her cookbook is highly radioactive. They are kept in lead-lined boxes, and those who wish to consult them must wear protective clothing.
- Marie Curie
- Various dates - No INES level - various locations - Overexposure of workers
- Luminescent radiumRadiumRadium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
was used to paint watches and other items that glowed. The most famous incident is the Radium girlsRadium GirlsThe Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with glow-in-the-dark paint at the United States Radium factory in Orange, New Jersey around 1917....
of Orange, New JerseyOrange, New JerseyThe City of Orange is a city and township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 30,134...
where a large number of workers got radiation poisoning. Other towns including Ottawa, IllinoisOttawa, IllinoisOttawa is a city located at the confluence of the Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 18,786...
experienced contamination of homes and other structures and became SuperfundSuperfundSuperfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
cleanup sites.
- Luminescent radium
- Various dates - No INES Level - ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, USA - Contamination- Radium mining and manufacturing left a number of Denver, ColoradoDenver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
streets contaminated.
- Radium mining and manufacturing left a number of Denver, Colorado
- 1927–1930 - No INES Level - USA - Radium poisoning
- Eben ByersEben ByersEben McBurney Byers was a wealthy American socialite, athlete, and industrialist. Byers earned notoriety in the early 1930s when he died from radiation poisoning after consuming a popular patent medicine made from radium dissolved in water.-Biography:The son of industrialist Alexander Byers, Eben...
ingests almosts 1400 bottles of RadithorRadithorRadithor was a patent medicine that is a well known example of radioactive quackery. It consisted of triple distilled water containing at a minimum each of the radium 226 and 228 isotopes.-History:...
, a radioactive patent medicineRadioactive quackeryRadioactive quackery refers to various products sold during the early 20th century, after the discovery of radioactivity, which promised radioactivity as a cure for various illnesses...
, leading to his death in 1932. He is buried in Allegheny CemeteryAllegheny CemeteryAllegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.It is a nonsectarian, wooded hillside park located at 4734 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood and bounded by Bloomfield, Garfield, and Stanton Heights...
in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, in a lead-lined coffin.
- Eben Byers
1950s
- March, 1957 - No INES level - Houston, TexasHouston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, USA - Exposure of workers- Two employees of a company licensed by the U.S. Atomic Energy CommissionUnited States Atomic Energy CommissionThe United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
to encapsulate sources for radiographicRadiographyRadiography is the use of X-rays to view a non-uniformly composed material such as the human body. By using the physical properties of the ray an image can be developed which displays areas of different density and composition....
cameras received radiation burnRadiation burnA radiation burn is damage to the skin or other biological tissue caused by exposure to radio frequency energy or ionizing radiation.The most common type of radiation burn is a sunburn caused by UV radiation. High exposure to X-rays during diagnostic medical imaging or radiotherapy can also result...
s after being exposed to Ir192(Iridium-192) powder. The incident was reported in Look MagazineLook (American magazine)Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
in 1961, but investigations published by the Mayo ClinicMayo ClinicMayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
that same year found few of the radiological injuries claimed in widespread press reports.
- Two employees of a company licensed by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
1970s
- 1977 — DounreayDounreayDounreay is the site of several nuclear research establishments located on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland...
, UK — - release of nuclear material - An explosion at the research establishment causes a mixture of unrecorded waste to be leaked from a waste disposal shaft.
- July 16, 1979 – Church Rock, New MexicoChurch Rock, New MexicoChurch Rock is a census-designated place in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States. It is within the Navajo Nation. The population was 1,077 at the 2000 census.-Navajo Nation government:-Geography:...
– release of radioactive mine tailings - An earth/clay dike of an United Nuclear Corporation's uranium mill's settling/evaporating pond failed. The broken dam released 100 million U.S. gallons (380,000 m³) of radioactive liquids and 1,100 short tonShort tonThe short ton is a unit of mass equal to . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S...
s (1,000 metric tonnes) of solid wastes, which settled out up to 70 mileMileA mile is a unit of length, most commonly 5,280 feet . The mile of 5,280 feet is sometimes called the statute mile or land mile to distinguish it from the nautical mile...
s (100 km) down the Puerco RiverPuerco RiverThe Puerco River in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona flows through arid terrain including the Painted Desert. The main tributary of the Little Colorado River, it drains an area of about and is long. The river's average discharge is very low, less than in normal years, because its...
and also near a Navaho farming community that uses surface waters. The pond was past its planned and licensed life and had been filled two feet (60 cm) deeper than design, despite evident cracking.
- September 29, 1979 - TritiumTritiumTritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium contains one proton and no neutrons...
leak at American Atomics in Tucson, ArizonaTucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
at the public school across the street from the plant. $300,000 worth of food was found to be contaminated; the chocolate cake had 56 nCiCurieThe curie is a unit of radioactivity, defined asThis is roughly the activity of 1 gram of the radium isotope 226Ra, a substance studied by the pioneers of radiology, Marie and Pierre Curie, for whom the unit was named. In addition to the curie, activity can be measured using an SI derived unit,...
/LLitér- External links :*...
. By contrast, the EPA safety limit for drinking water is 20 nNanoNano- is a prefix meaning a billionth. Used primarily in the metric system, this prefix denotes a factor of 10−9 or . It is frequently encountered in science and electronics for prefixing units of time and length, such as 30 nanoseconds , 100 nanometres or in the case of electrical capacitance,...
CiCurieThe curie is a unit of radioactivity, defined asThis is roughly the activity of 1 gram of the radium isotope 226Ra, a substance studied by the pioneers of radiology, Marie and Pierre Curie, for whom the unit was named. In addition to the curie, activity can be measured using an SI derived unit,...
/LLitér- External links :*...
(740 Bq/L) based on consumption of 2 liters per day.
1980s
- July 1981 – Lycoming, Nine Mile Point, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. An overloaded wastewaterWastewaterWastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations...
tank was deliberately flushed into the waste building sub-basement, filling it to a depth of four feet. This caused some of the approximately 150 55-gallon drums that were stored there to overturn and spill their contents. Fifty thousand U.S. gallons (190 m³) of lesser-contaminated water was discharged into Lake OntarioLake OntarioLake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
. - 1982 – "International Nutronics" of Dover, New JerseyDover, New JerseyDover is a town in Morris County, New Jersey on the Rockaway River. Dover is west of New York City and west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the United States Census, 2000, the town's population was 18,188.-Geography:...
spilled an unknown quantity of radioactive cobaltCobalt-60Cobalt-60, , is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt. Due to its half-life of 5.27 years, is not found in nature. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of . decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60...
solution used to treat gems for color, modify chemicals, and sterilize food and medical supplies. The solution spilled into the Dover sewer system and forced the closure of the plant. The Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNuclear Regulatory CommissionThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
was only informed of the accident ten months later by a whistleblowerWhistleblowerA whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
. In 1986 International Nutronics was fined $35,000 and one of its top executives was sentenced to probation for failure to report the spill. - 1982 – Radioactive steel scavenged from a nuclear reactor was melted into rebar and used in the construction of apartment buildings in northern TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, mostly in TaipeiTaipeiTaipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, from 1982 through 1984. Over 2,000 apartment units and shops were suspected as having been built with the materials. At least 10,000 people are known to have been exposed to long-term low-level irradiation as a result, with at least 40 deaths due to cancer. In 1985, the Taiwanese Atomic Energy Commission covered up the discovery of high levels of radiation in an apartment building by blaming a dentist operating an imaging machine. However, in the summer of 1992, a utility worker for the Taiwanese state-run electric utility Taipower brought a Geiger counterGeiger counterA Geiger counter, also called a Geiger–Müller counter, is a type of particle detector that measures ionizing radiation. They detect the emission of nuclear radiation: alpha particles, beta particles or gamma rays. A Geiger counter detects radiation by ionization produced in a low-pressure gas in a...
to his apartment to learn more about the device, and discovered that his apartment was contaminated. Despite awareness of the problem, owners of some of the buildings known to be contaminated have continued to rent apartments out to tenants (in part because selling the units is illegal), and as of at least 2003 and likely to the present, no coordinated effort has been made to track down the remaining affected structures. The Taiwan AEC has harassed medical researchers looking into the consequences. Some researchers from Taiwan claimed that the gamma rays from the cobalt-60 had a beneficial effect upon the health of the tenants. - December 6, 1983 – Ciudad JuárezCiudad JuárezCiudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...
, MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, A local resident salvaged materials from a discarded radiation therapy machine carrying 6,000 pellets of 60CoCobalt-60Cobalt-60, , is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt. Due to its half-life of 5.27 years, is not found in nature. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of . decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60...
. The dismantling and transport of the material led to severe contamination of his truck; when the truck was scrapped, it in turn contaminated another 5,000 metric tonnes of steel with an estimated 300 CiCurieThe curie is a unit of radioactivity, defined asThis is roughly the activity of 1 gram of the radium isotope 226Ra, a substance studied by the pioneers of radiology, Marie and Pierre Curie, for whom the unit was named. In addition to the curie, activity can be measured using an SI derived unit,...
(11 TBqBecquerelThe becquerel is the SI-derived unit of radioactivity. One Bq is defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. The Bq unit is therefore equivalent to an inverse second, s−1...
) of activity. This material was sold for kitchen or restaurant table legs and building materials, some of which was sent to the U.S. and Canada; the incident was discovered when a truck delivering contaminated building materials months later to the Los Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
accidentally drove through a radiation monitoring station. Contamination was later measured on the roads that were used to transport the original damaged radiation source. In some cases pellets were actually found embedded in the roadway. In the state of SinaloaSinaloaSinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....
, 109 houses were condemned due to contaminated building material. This incident prompted the Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNuclear Regulatory CommissionThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
and Customs ServiceUnited States Customs ServiceUntil March 2003, the United States Customs Service was an agency of the U.S. federal government that collected import tariffs and performed other selected border security duties.Before it was rolled into form part of the U.S...
to install radiation detection equipment at all major border crossings. - 1985 to 1987, Therac-25Therac-25The Therac-25 was a radiation therapy machine produced by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited after the Therac-6 and Therac-20 units ....
was a radiation therapy machine produced by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. It was involved with at least six known accidents between 1985 and 1987, in which patients were given massive overdoses of radiation, which were in some cases on the order of hundreds of GraysGray (unit)The gray is the SI unit of absorbed radiation dose of ionizing radiation , and is defined as the absorption of one joule of ionizing radiation by one kilogram of matter ....
. At least five patients died of the overdoses. These accidents highlighted the dangers of software control of safety-critical systems. - September 13, 1987 – In the Goiânia accidentGoiânia accidentThe Goiânia accident was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, at Goiânia, in the Brazilian State of Goiás after an old radiotherapy source was taken from an abandoned hospital site in the city...
, scavengers broke open a radiation-therapy machine in an abandoned clinic of GoiâniaGoiânia-Climate:The city has a tropical wet and dry climate with an average temperature of . There's a wet season, from October to April, and a dry one, from May to September. Annual rainfall is around 1,520 mm....
, BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. They sold the kilocurie (40 TBq) 137Cs source as a glowing curiosity. Two hundred and fifty were contaminated, four died. - June 6, 1988 – "Radiation Sterilizers" in Decatur, GeorgiaDecatur, GeorgiaDecatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...
, reported a leak of 137Cs at their facility. Seventy thousand medical supply containers and milk cartons were recalled. Ten employees were exposed, and three "had enough on them that they contaminated other surfaces," including their homes and cars. - 5 February 1989 Three workers were exposed to gamma rayGamma rayGamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...
s from the 60CoCobalt-60Cobalt-60, , is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt. Due to its half-life of 5.27 years, is not found in nature. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of . decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60...
source in a medical products irradiation plant in San SalvadorSan SalvadorThe city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
, El SalvadorEl SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
. The most exposed person died while another lost a limb. This was a human error accident where a person made the wrong choice to enter the irradiation room. - In 1989, a small capsule containing highly radioactive caesium-137Caesium-137Caesium-137 is a radioactive isotope of caesium which is formed as a fission product by nuclear fission.It has a half-life of about 30.17 years, and decays by beta emission to a metastable nuclear isomer of barium-137: barium-137m . Caesium-137 is a radioactive isotope of caesium which is formed...
was found inside the concrete wall in an apartment building in KramatorskKramatorskKramatorsk is a city in the eastern Ukraine within Donetsk Oblast. Its population is about 200,000 people, including surrounding settlements under Kramatorsk City Council government....
, UkraineUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. It is believed that the capsule, originally a part of a measurement device, was lost sometime during late 1970s and ended up mixed with gravel used to construct that building in 1980. By the time the capsule was discovered, 6 residents of the building died from leukemiaLeukemiaLeukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
and 17 more received varying doses of radiation. See Kramatorsk nuclear poisoning incidentKramatorsk nuclear poisoning incidentThe Kramatorsk nuclear poisoning incident was a radiation accident that happened in Kramatorsk, Ukraine from 1980 to 1989 . In 1989, a small capsule containing highly radioactive caesium-137 was found inside the concrete wall of an apartment building, with the surface gamma-radiation exposure dose...
.
1990s
- June 24, 1990 – Soreq, IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
– An operator at a commercial irradiation facility bypassed the safety systems on the JS6500 sterilizer to clear a jam in the product conveyor area. The one to two minute exposure resulted in a whole body dose estimated at 10 Gy or more. He died 36 days later despite extensive medical care. See Fool Irradiation for a discussion of this type of event. - October 26, 1991 – NesvizhNesvizhNesvizh is a city in Belarus. It is the administrative center of the Nesvizh District of Minsk Province and location of the Nesvizh Castle World Heritage Site. Its 2009 population is 14,300 .-History:...
, BelarusBelarusBelarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
– An operator at an atomic sterilization facility bypassed the safety systems to clear a jammed conveyor. Upon entering the irradiation chamber he was exposed to an estimated whole body dose of 11 Gy, with some portions of the body receiving upwards of 20 Gy. Despite prompt intensive medical care, he died 113 days after the accident. - August 31, 1994 – Commerce Township, MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
– David HahnDavid HahnDavid Charles Hahn , also called the "Radioactive Boy Scout" or the "Nuclear Boy Scout", is an American who attempted to build a homemade breeder nuclear reactor in 1994, at age 17. A scout in the Boy Scouts of America, Hahn conducted his experiments in secret in a backyard shed at his mother's...
's experimental reactor was discovered in his mother's back yard. The unshielded reactor exposed his neighborhood to 1,000 times the normal levels of background radiation. - October 21, 1994 – a large 137Cs source was stolen by scrap metalScrap MetalScrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
scavengers in Tammiku, EstoniaEstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
. - May 1998 – Recycler AcerinoxAcerinoxAcerinox, S.A. is a stainless steel manufacturing conglomerate group based in Spain. The company was founded in 1970, and initially received technical support from the Japanese firm Nisshin Steel. Nisshin continues to hold approximately 15% of Acerinox as of April 2010. The headquarters are in...
in CádizCádizCadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, unwittingly melted scrap metalScrap MetalScrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
containing radioactive sources; the radioactive cloud drifted all the way to SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
before being detected. (See Acerinox accidentAcerinox accidentThe Acerinox accident was an incident of radioactive contamination in Southern Spain. In May 1998, a caesium-137 source managed to pass through the monitoring equipment in a Acerinox scrap metal reprocessing plant in Los Barrios, Spain. When melted, the caesium-137 caused the release of a...
.) - 1999 – A road near Mrima Hill, KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
was rebuilt using local materials later found to be radioactive. Some workers were exposed to excessive radiation, and many residents of the area were tested for exposure. 2,975 tons of roadway material were to be dug up to eliminate the hazard.
2000s
- February 1, 2000 – The radiation source of an expired teletherapy unit was purchased and transferred without registration, and stored in an unguarded parking lot without warning signs. It was then stolen from a parking lot in Samut Prakarn, ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and dismantled in a junkyard for scrap metal. Workers completely removed the 60Co source from the lead shielding, and became ill shortly thereafter. The radioactive nature of the metal and the resulting contamination was not discovered until 18 days later. Seven injuries and three deaths were a result of this incident.
- August 2000 -March 2001; at the Instituto Oncologico NacionalInstituto Oncologico NacionalThe National Oncologic Institute or ION is a specialized hospital for cancer treatment, located in Panama City, Panama.-History:...
of PanamaPanamaPanama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, 28 patients receiving treatment for prostate cancer and cancer of the cervix receive lethal doses of radiations due to a modification in the protocol of measurement of radiation used without a verification test. The negligence, unique in its scope, was investigated by the IAT on date of 26 May-1 June 2001.
- December 2000 – Three woodcutters in the nation of GeorgiaGeorgia (country)Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
spent the night beside several "warm" canisters they found deep in the woods and were subsequently hospitalized with severe radiation burns. The canisters were found to contain concentrated 90SrStrontium-90Strontium-90 is a radioactive isotope of strontium, with a half-life of 28.8 years.-Radioactivity:Natural strontium is nonradioactive and nontoxic, but 90Sr is a radioactivity hazard...
. The disposal team consisted of 25 men who were restricted to 40 seconds' worth of exposure each while transferring the canisters to lead-lined drums. The canisters are believed to have been components of radioisotope thermoelectric generators intended for use as generators for remote lighthouses and navigational beacons, part of a Soviet plan dating back to 1983.
- February 2001 – A medical accelerator at the Bialystok Oncology Center in Poland malfunctioned, resulting in five female patients receiving excessive doses of radiation while undergoing breast cancer treatment. The incident was revealed when one of the patients complained of a painful radiation burn. In response, a local technician was called in to repair the device, but was unable to do so, and in fact caused further damage. Subsequently, competent authorities were notified, but as the apparatus had been tampered with, they were unable to ascertain the exact doses of radiation received by the patients (localized doses may have been in excess of 60 Gy). No deaths were reported as a result of this incident, although all affected patients had to receive skin grafts. The attending doctor was charged with criminal negligence, but in 2003 a district court ruled that she was not responsible for the incident. The hospital technician was fined.
- March 11, 2002 - INES Level 2 – A 2.5 metric tonne 60Co gammaGamma rayGamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...
source was transported from Cookridge Hospital, LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, UK, to SellafieldSellafieldSellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
with defective shielding. As the radiation escaped from the package downwards into the ground, it is not thought that this event caused any injury or disease in either a human or an animal. This event was treated in a serious manner because the defense in depth type of protection for the source had been eroded. If the container had been tipped over in a road crash then a strong beam of gamma rayGamma rayGamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...
s (83.5 Gy h-1) would have been aligned in a direction in which it would've been likely to irradiate humans. The company responsible for the transport of the source, AEA TechnologyAEA TechnologyAEA Technology plc was formed in 1996 as the privatised offshoot of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. It is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index. Originally it consisted of divisions with expertise in a wide variety of areas, mostly the products of nuclear-related research...
plc, was fined £Pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
250,000 by a British courtCourtA court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
.
- 2003 – Cape of Navarin, Chukotka Autonomous OkrugChukotka Autonomous OkrugChukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. A radioisotope thermoelectric generatorRadioisotope thermoelectric generatorA radioisotope thermoelectric generator is an electrical generator that obtains its power from radioactive decay. In such a device, the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material is converted into electricity by the Seebeck effect using an array of thermocouples.RTGs can be...
(RTG) located on the Arctic shore was discovered in a highly degraded state. The level of the exposition dose at the generator surface was as high as 15 R/h; in July 2004 a second inspection of the same RTG showed that gamma radiation emission had risen to 87 R/h and that 90SrStrontium-90Strontium-90 is a radioactive isotope of strontium, with a half-life of 28.8 years.-Radioactivity:Natural strontium is nonradioactive and nontoxic, but 90Sr is a radioactivity hazard...
had begun to leak into the environment.http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/navy/northern_fleet/incidents/37598.html In November 2003, a completely dismantled RTG located on the Island of Yuzhny Goryachinsky in the Kola BayKola BayKola Bay or Murmansk Fjord is a 57-km-long fjord of the Barents Sea that cuts into the northern part of the Kola Peninsula. It is up to 7 km wide and has a depth of 200 to 300 metres. The Tuloma and Kola Rivers discharge into the bay....
was found. The generator's radioactive heat source was found on the ground near the shoreline in the northern part of the island.http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/navy/northern_fleet/incidents/37598.html - September 10, 2004 – Yakutia, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Two radioisotope thermoelectric generatorRadioisotope thermoelectric generatorA radioisotope thermoelectric generator is an electrical generator that obtains its power from radioactive decay. In such a device, the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material is converted into electricity by the Seebeck effect using an array of thermocouples.RTGs can be...
s were dropped 50 meters onto the tundra at Zemlya Bunge island during an airlift when the helicopter flew into heavy weather. According to the nuclear regulators, the impact compromised the RTGs' external radiation shielding. At a height of 10 meters above the impact site, the intensity of gamma radiation was measured at 4 mSv/hr. http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/navy/northern_fleet/incidents/37598.html - 2005 – DounreayDounreayDounreay is the site of several nuclear research establishments located on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland...
, UK. In September, the site's cementation plant was closed when 266 liters of radioactive reprocessing residues were spilled inside containment. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4283610.stmhttp://www.ukaea.org.uk/press/2005/26_09_05.htm. In October, another of the site's reprocessing laboratories was closed down after nose-blow tests of eight workers tested positive for trace radioactivity. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4350386.stm - November 3, 2005 – HaddamHaddam, ConnecticutHaddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,157 at the 2000 census. The town was also home to the now decommissioned Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Reactor.-Geography:...
, ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, USA. The Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company reported that water containing quantities (below safe drinking water limits) of 137CsCaesium-137Caesium-137 is a radioactive isotope of caesium which is formed as a fission product by nuclear fission.It has a half-life of about 30.17 years, and decays by beta emission to a metastable nuclear isomer of barium-137: barium-137m . Caesium-137 is a radioactive isotope of caesium which is formed...
, 60CoCobalt-60Cobalt-60, , is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt. Due to its half-life of 5.27 years, is not found in nature. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of . decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60...
, 90SrStrontium-90Strontium-90 is a radioactive isotope of strontium, with a half-life of 28.8 years.-Radioactivity:Natural strontium is nonradioactive and nontoxic, but 90Sr is a radioactivity hazard...
, and 3HTritiumTritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium contains one proton and no neutrons...
leaked from a spent fuel pond. Independent measurements and review of the incident by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNuclear Regulatory CommissionThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
are due to begin November 7, 2005. http://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/idmws/doccontent.dll?library=PU_ADAMS^PBNTAD01&ID=053080144:2http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=4067049&nav=3YeXhttp://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-nukeleak.artnov03,0,4128957.story?coll=hc-headlines-local - March 11, 2006 – at Fleurus, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, an operator working for the company Sterigenics http://www.sterigenics.com/, at a medical equipment sterilization site, entered the irradiation room and remained there for 20 seconds. The room contained a source of 60CoCobalt-60Cobalt-60, , is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt. Due to its half-life of 5.27 years, is not found in nature. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of . decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60...
which was not in the pool of water.http://www.sterigenics.com/sterigenics_international/News_Fleurus_Employee_Accident.aspx Three weeks later, the worker suffered of symptoms typical of an irradiation (vomiting, loss of hair, fatigue). One estimate that he was exposed to a dose of between 4.4 and 4.8 Gy due to a malfunction of the control-command hydraulic system maintaining the radioactive source in the pool. The operator spent over one month in a specialized hospital before going back home. To protect workers, the federal nuclear control agency AFCN and private auditors from AVN recommended Sterigenics to install a redundant system of security. It is an accident of level 4 on the INES scale.http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/2006BELG1.htmlhttp://www.fanc.fgov.be/fr/news_2006_04_11_dossier_streigenics.htmhttp://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/english/details/060406_nuclear/index.shtml - May 5, 2006 – An accidental release of 131IIodine-131Iodine-131 , also called radioiodine , is an important radioisotope of iodine. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. Its uses are mostly medical and pharmaceutical...
gas at the Prairie Island Nuclear Power PlantPrairie Island Nuclear Power PlantThe Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant is an electricity-generating facility located in Red Wing, Minnesota along the Mississippi River, adjacent to the Prairie Island Indian Community reservation. The nuclear power plant, which first began operating in 1973, has two nuclear reactors made by...
in MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
exposed approximately one hundred plant workers to low-level radiation. Most workers received 10 to 20 millirads (0.1-0.2 mSv), about the same as a dental X-rayX-rayX-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
. The workers were wearing protective gear at the time, and no radiation leaked outside the plant to the surrounding area. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/09/D8HGDVE02.html - Lisa Norris died in 2006 after having been given an overdose of radiation as a result of human errorHuman ErrorHuman Error is the stage name of Rafał Kuczynski , a polish electronic musician, working mostly in the ambient music genre, produced only with a computer...
during treatment for a brain tumorBrain tumorA brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
at Beatson Oncology CentreBeatson Oncology CentreThe Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre is a specialised cancer care centre in Glasgow, Scotland. Until recently it had facilities in Gartnavel General Hospital, the Western Infirmary and Glasgow Royal Infirmary...
in GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
(ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
).http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4691748.stmhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329605510-103690,00.htmlhttp://www.healthjockey.com/2006/10/19/teen-girl-dies-from-overdose-of-radiation-in-the-hospital/. The Scottish Government have published an independent investigation of this case.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/27_10_06_lisa.pdf. The intended treatment for Lisa Norris was 35 GyGray (unit)The gray is the SI unit of absorbed radiation dose of ionizing radiation , and is defined as the absorption of one joule of ionizing radiation by one kilogram of matter ....
to be delivered by a LINAC machine to the whole of the central nervous system to be delivered in twenty equal fractions of 1.75 Gy, which was to be followed by 19.8 Gy to be delivered to the tumor only (in eleven fractions of 1.8 Gy). In the first phase of the treatment a 58% overdose occurred, and the CNS of Lisa Norris suffered a dose of 55.5 Gy. The second phase of the treatment was abandoned on medical advice, after having lived for some time after the overdose Lisa Norris passed away. - August 23–24, 2008 — INES Level 3 - FleurusFleurusFleurus is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006 Fleurus had a total population of 22,221. The total area is which gives a population density of 375 inhabitants per km²...
, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
- Nuclear material leak - A gaseous leak of a radioisotope of iodine, 131IIodine-131Iodine-131 , also called radioiodine , is an important radioisotope of iodine. It has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days. Its uses are mostly medical and pharmaceutical...
, was detected at a large medical radioisotope laboratory, Institut national des Radio-Eléments. Belgian authorities implemented restrictions on use of local farming produce within 5 km of the leak, when higher-than-expected levels of contamination was detected in local grass. The particular isotope of iodine has a half-life of 8 days http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5glGyNkMWfaCgVrofcHS1r4xBO8jA http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnBRU006721.html. The European CommissionEuropean CommissionThe European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
sent out a warning over their ECURIEÉcurieÉcurie is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming village situated north of Arras at the junction of the N17 and D60 roads.-Population:-Places of interest:...
-alert system on the 29th of August. The quantity of radioactivity released into the environment was estimated at 45 GBq I-131, which corresponds to a dose of 160 microsievert (effective dose) for a hypothetical person remaining permanently at the site's enclosure. - January 23, 2008- A licensed Radiologic Technologist, Raven Knickerbocker, at Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
performed 151 CT scan slices on a single 3mm level on the head of a 23 month old child over a 65 minute period. The child suffered radiation burns (skin erythema) to much of his head. The hospital's nuclear health physicist estimated that the child received a localized dose possibly as high as 11Gy, later analysis concluded it was 7.5 Gy. An independent investigation of the child's blood found that he had severe chromosome abnormalities because of the exposure. The technologist was fired, and her license was permanently revoked on March 16, 2011 by the state of CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, citing "gross negligence". The hospital's radiology manager, Bruce Fleck, testified that Knickerbocker's conduct was "a rogue act of insanity". - February 2008-August 2009 - A software misconfiguration in a CT scanner used for brain perfusion scanning at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, resulted in 206 patients receiving radiation doses approximately 8 times higher than intended during an 18 month period starting in February, 2008. Some patients reported temporary hair loss and erythemaErythemaErythema is redness of the skin, caused by hyperemia of the capillaries in the lower layers of the skin. It occurs with any skin injury, infection, or inflammation...
. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has estimated that patients received doses between 3Gy and 4Gy.
2010s
- April 2010 - INES level 4 - A 35-year old man was hospitalized in New DelhiNew DelhiNew Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
after handling radioactive scrap metal. Investigation led to the discovery of an amount of scrap metal containing Cobalt-60 in the New Delhi industrial district of MayapuriMayapuriMayapuri is a locality in West Delhi. It used to be a major hub of small scale industries, but following recent government sanctions, most of the heavy metal industries moved out...
. The 35-year old man later died from his injuries, while six others remained hospitalized.
- July 2010 - During a routine inspection at the Port of GenoaPort of GenoaThe Port of Genoa is an Italian seaport on the Mediterranean Sea.With a trade volume of 58.6 million tonnes it is the first port of Italy, the second in terms of twenty-foot equivalent units after the port of transshipment of Gioia Tauro, with a trade volume of 1.86 million TEUs.- Structural...
, on Italy'sItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
northwest coast, a cargo container from Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
containing nearly 50,000 pounds of scrap copperCopperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
was detected to be emitting gamma radiation at a rate of around 500 millisievertsSievertThe sievert is the International System of Units SI derived unit of dose equivalent radiation. It attempts to quantitatively evaluate the biological effects of ionizing radiation as opposed to just the absorbed dose of radiation energy, which is measured in gray...
per hour. After spending over a year in quarantine on Port grounds, Italian officials dissected the container using robots and discovered a rod of cobalt-60Cobalt-60Cobalt-60, , is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt. Due to its half-life of 5.27 years, is not found in nature. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of . decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60...
nine inches long and one-third of an inch in diameter intermingled with the scrap. Officials suspected its provenanceProvenanceProvenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
to be inappropriately disposed of medical or food-processing equipment. The rod was sent to GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
for further analysis, after which it was likely to be recycled.
See also
- List of military nuclear accidents
- International Nuclear Events Scale
- List of disasters
- List of nuclear reactors - a comprehensive annotated list of the world's nuclear reactors
- Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
- Nuclear PowerNuclear powerNuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
- Nuclear power debateNuclear power debateThe nuclear power debate is about the controversy which has surrounded the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuel for civilian purposes...
- Nuclear ReactorNuclear reactorA nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
- RadiationRadiationIn physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
- Background radiationBackground radiationBackground radiation is the ionizing radiation constantly present in the natural environment of the Earth, which is emitted by natural and artificial sources.-Overview:Both Natural and human-made background radiation varies by location....
External links
- Schema-root.org: Nuclear Power Accidents 2 topics, both with a current news feed
- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) website with search function and electronic public reading room
- International Atomic Energy Agency website with extensive online library
- http://www-news.iaea.org/news/ IAEA INES database
- Canada's Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)
- Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety Detailed articles on nuclear watchdog activities in the US
- World Nuclear Association: Radiation Doses Background on ionizing radiation and doses
- Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety More information on radiation units and doses.
- Radiological Incidents Database Extensive, well-referenced list of radiological incidents.
- http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/ines/ Civilian nuclear incidents in the UK since 2001