A box containing radioactive element of the Institute for Technology of Radioactive and Rare Elements (ITRRE) was stolen and then sold to waste collectors. Those who destroyed the box did not know about the danger of their job. The incident has become a good lesson for radiating establishments in managing their radioactive sources.
A box of radioactive source destroyed
On May 26, 2006, ITRRE under the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, during having their facilities repaired, lost a box containing radioactive isotope source Eu-152 (Eropi-152). The source was manufactured in Da Lat in 1995 and has a radiation at 14 millicuries. This radioactive isotope element is in the form of white powder with a weight of 54.8 milligrams and its size is as big as a top of a ball-point pen. Radioactive element was contained in a small quartz ampoule, protected with a lead layer. The ampoule was contained in an iron cylinder with a diameter of 12 centimetres and a height of 15 centimetres. To prevent radiation from occurring, the cylinder was covered by lead plates with a measure of 17 x 35 x 2 centimetres with locks for the iron box and radioactive element container.
Three days later, ITRRE found that it lost the box and co-operated with police to investigated and find who stole the box. By 10:30, May 31, 2006, authorised agencies uncovered who stole the radioactive source. It was a builder who joined the repair of facilities at ITRRE. The builder found a heavy box and thought he can make some money from selling it to waste collectors. And the box was sold at only VND 25,000.
The person who bought the box lives at 628 Bach Dang, Hanoi. The person then destroyed the box and three locks inside the box appeared alongside with little amount of white powder and pieces of a black beautiful metal. Seeing strange signs of the box, the waste collector used magnet to test with the metal. However, nothing occurred between the metal and magnet. The waste collector then thought it was black brass, a rare and precious metal, so the metal was kept and the cover of the box was sold.
Consequences overcome
The Ministry of Science and Technology then guided relevant agencies, including ITRRE, the Nuclear Science and Technology Institute, and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute and the Radiation Control and Nuclear Safety Authority to measure and analyse how the house at 638 Bach Dang was affected by radioactivity and take measures to overcome the consequence.
The house was then cleaned from May 31 to June 5. During the period, the house was isolated with nobody permitted to enter the house except technicians. All items and land on the floor of the house were taken to the warehouse of ITRRE for examination. At the same time, two houses next to house 638 were examined to find how they had been affected. The results showed that the houses were not affected. By 11am, June 5, 2006, everything outside the house at 628 Bach Dang turned to a normal status. Radioactivity measured at the time was at 0.4 mSv (microsivert), doubling the radioactivity of the environment.
The Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute took members in the waste collector’s family to hospital to check up their health. The result was that all the family members were not affected by radioactivity. So far, no signs of negative impacts on their health have been found yet.
The incident has given a warning alarm on loose management of radioactive sources in radiating establishments. Phan Dang Nhan, director of the Radiation Control and Nuclear Safety Authority, said that State management agencies should promote the supervision and impose serious penalties on any violation of rules on management of radioactive sources.
Nguyen Thoa
Vietnamese
