The incident has happened during radiography work with Gammamat model TSI-3, containing Ir-192 source with activity at the time 2.6 TBq (70.2 Ci). The technician operating remote crank mechanism was not able to crank in the source to the shielded position. He asked for help company’s radiation protection inspector (RPI). The RPI with the second worker came in the hurry, forgetting to take their individual dosemeters. The RPI had taken his own decision to return the source to the shielded position by manually grapping the guide tube and force the source to move it by gravity to the shielded container. The source was returned back to the safe position. The incident was on July 27th, but information about it was released by the company on 28 September, when the radiation burns of RPI became advanced. The National Atomic Energy Agency (NAEA) Regulatory Inspectors investigated the incident in October and finished investigations in December. There were no doses obtained by the public. The doses of the workers were assessed on the basis of blood test (biodosimetry) and reconstruction of the event, based on the statements of involved workers. The doses of RPI were approximated as: whole body dose 365 mSv and extremity dose about 5 Sv to right hand. The doses of second worker were assessed by biodosimetry examination as whole body dose 182 mSv and extremity dose about 2,3 Sv. The blood tests were performed by Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection in Warsaw from blood samples taken at the beginning of October and repeated at the beginning of November.Final hands dose value of the more exposed worker still remains uncertain.
A vast subsea nuclear graveyard planned to hold Britain’s burgeoning piles of radioactive waste is set to become the biggest, longest-lasting and most expensive infrastructure project ever undertaken in the UK. The project [UK's nuclear waste dump] is now predicted to take more than 150yrs to complete with lifetime costs of £66bn in today’s money...The […]
Last year, the Dutch Province of Limburg started an alliance in which, besides the local government, research institutes, small nuclear reactor (SMR) developers, utilities, industrial customers and funders cooperated. With this "Limburg SMR alliance" Limburg tried to lead the way towards an SMR in Limburg. The preferred site for a first SMR would be Chemelot, […]
From the IPFM: During a visit to the Civaux nuclear power plant on 18 March 2024, France's Minister of the Armed Forces unveiled a plan to use the plant to produce tritium for the French nuclear weapons program. Civaux is a civilian power plant that belongs to and is operated by Electricité de France. According […]
An analysis by the Norwegian NGO Bellona of transborder trade operations with the customs code 840130 (irradiated fuel assemblies or fuel elements) show a more than twofold increase of import to EU countries of fresh nuclear fuel in cash terms – from 280 million Euros in 2022 to 686 million Euros in 2023. In physical […]
The French government has said it is "seriously" studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich reprocessed uranium to cut its reliance on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for use in nuclear power plants is in Russia. "The option of […]