During the quality control of the welds of a newly installed piping, the radiographer performing the operations was exposed to the radiation of a 737 GBq Se-75 source during a short period of time (approximately between 60 and 90 seconds). During the removal of the collimator, the radiographer did not realise that the source was still present in the collimator instead of safely retracted in the source container. His electronic dosimeter did not respond (due to battery failure) and he also omitted to use an area survey meter to acknowledge the absence of radiation. The electronic dosimeter of the assistant radiographer gave an alarm when approaching the device and hence could warn the radiographer of the danger. The passive dosimeter of the radiographer was read out and revealed a dose of 13.8 mSv, i.e. below statutory limits. Dose estimations for the hands revealed no levels giving rise to deterministic effects and this was also confirmed by further medical examination. The source was retrieved without any damage in the source container and nobody from the public was exposed. The origin of the event lies in the human errors of the operator, not following all the safety measures foreseen for this activity.
Location: Antwerp Region Event date: Thu, 05-05-2022
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 […]
