The IAEA helps countries safely manage sealed radioactive sources, like this caesium source which is contained inside large equipment and instruments. (Photo Credit: K. Hansen, IAEA)
In too many countries, radioactive materials are not as well controlled as they should be. Not all countries have the legal, technical, or regulatory capability in place, allowing radioactive sources to slip through managerial cracks. Hundreds of radium needles for example, have all too easily been lost, misplaced or fallen out of control of the competent authority – in other words, “orphaned”. They have turned up in bank vaults, been recycled into jewellery, and, in a few instances, been stolen.
In a bizarre case in the United States prior to regulation of radium sources, a lost source was traced to a pig grazing on a rubbish tip. It illustrates the serious but widespread problem of spent radioactive sources being dumped. The unfortunate pig had eaten the radium needle while fossicking though hospital waste left at the tip.
Mr. Al-Mughrabi said if the tiny radium source had been inadvertently mixed with scrap materials and melted in a steel plant, the plant’s equipment and personal might have become contaminated. “Not to mention end-users of the metal products,” he said. A worse scenario would be if the metal containing the radioactive particles were used to construct a high-rise building. If the contamination was serious enough, the high rise would have to be pulled down, Mr. Al-Mughrabi said. This situation occurred in Mexico where a dumped caesium source was unknowingly melted into building materials. Houses that used the contaminated materials had to be destroyed and the area decontaminated.
IAEA assistance to render radium and other sealed sources safe is extensive and varied. For instance, in the case of radium sources, if a Member State lacks the infrastructure to safely condition and store them, the IAEA has a “mobile tool kit” which allows an expert team to safely condition the sources on site.
Conditioning a source is painstaking work that requires workers to be protected from overexposure to radiation. It involves tightly packaging and sealing the radium in a concrete drum. The drum is then labelled and safely and securely stored until a decision is taken on its final disposal.
The IAEA also builds capacity in Member States to condition their radium and other sealed sources themselves. It this does by:
The radium clean-up is part of broader Agency efforts to condition and make safe disused sealed and “orphaned” radioactive sources. “Every year several people are killed due to over exposure and several tens or hundreds are being exposed to unacceptable doses,” Mr Al-Mughrabi said.
With the IAEA’s support the work being done in Chile and more than 30 other countries is a vital step toward keeping the public and the environment safe.
Next: Radium’s "Hot" Legacy
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See also: Taking Charge in Chile »
