During industrial radiography operations, a radiographer approached the camera, believing the source to be in the shielded position. The radiographer did not have his survey meter, but was wearing an alarming ratemeter and a pocket dosimeter. The radiographer was attempting to put the safety plug on the end of the camera when he realized the source was not in the shielded position. The radiographer did not contact the Radiation Safety Officer or secure the area, as procedure required, but instead, with the assistance of another radiographer, he put the source back into the shielded position. Both radiographers’ personal monitors were sent for emergency processing. One received a whole body dose of 55.7 mSv (5.57 rem) for November, which made his annual dose 67 mSv (6.67 rem). The other radiographer did not exceed the dose limit. The dose limit is 50 mSv (5 rem). Update: this rating is being updated to reflect the fact that the over exposures to the radiographers have been confirmed. There are no other adjustments to this event.
Everywhere you look, the nuclear industry’s hype machine is in overdrive. Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and the UK government all tout small modular reactors as the silver bullet for climate change and energy security. Tech billionaires are hiring nuclear veterans. Wall Street is whispering about “round-the-clock power” for artificial intelligence data centers. For those old enough […]
Kernenergie en veiligheid: A wargame sought to test if a major radiological release that would prompt the evacuation of millions of civilians in South Korea could distract key US allies from assisting and rebuffing an all-out military invasion of Taiwan. The short answer was yes. The game originally presumed that China, wanting to keep the […]
Big batteries and EVs to the rescue again as faults with new nuclear plant cause chaos on Nordic grids The Finnish nuclear power plant Olkiluoto was finally connected to the grid last year, at an estimated cost of €11 billion compared to the original budget of €3 billion. That cost blowout forced its developer, the […]
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, […]
