 INES 1 |
Incidents of Radioactivity in Consumer Products |
Three incidents of radioactivity in consumer products were brought to the attention of the Radiation Protection authorities in Canada. The products involved were stainless-steel thermoses, canisters and watch bands. The components found to be contaminated with cobalt-60 were the clips holding the handles to the thermos body, the ring holding the canister lid in place and the spindles (pins) in metal watch bracelets. The contaminated watches and thermoses originated in the People's Republic of China. The origin of the canister is unknown.
The radioactive thermos clips were discovered when a worker at a Canadian nuclear generating station was scanned for radioactivity as he carried a newly bought thermos into the station. The ring on the canister lid was discovered when municipal garbage in the city of Toronto (Canada) was routinely screened for radioactivity. No examples of the watches were found in Canada, but the information on the watches was brought to Canada¡¦s attention by the IAEA in February 2000.
The contaminated items contain at least 3 orders of magnitude more Co-60 than recommended by the IAEA in Draft Safety Standard DS-161, ıRadioactivity in Material not Requiring Regulation for Purposes of Radiation Protectionġ, which gives a value of 0.1 Bq/g for Co-60.
Although doses to the users of the products do not pose an immediate health risk (they range from negligibly small to 300 mSv/y skin dose), the estimated doses to factory workers are at or exceed limits for workers in regulated industries in Canada. These estimated doses range from 50 to 180 mSv/y whole body dose, which would pose a concern if they were consistently received by workers in a regulated industry.
Event date: Mon, 08-12-2003
