Date: late September 1978

Location: San Francisco, California, United States

Type of event: criminal act using radioactive material

Description:

A female graduate student ingested 3-5 millicuries of phosphorus-32 in late September with the contamination identified on 15 November. The student exhibited skin rash and lesions leading to discovery of phosphorus-32 contamination at her home. Two friends of the student were also externally exposed and had resulting skin rash and legions.

Consequences: 3 injuries.

References:

• Iddins, Carol J., and Jason E. Davis, 2022, "Recognition of radiation-induced injuries as sentinel indicators of uncontrolled radioactive material," Environmental Advances, 8:100244.
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Dec. 1995, "Ingestion of phosphorus-32 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, identified on August 19, 1995, NRC Report NUREG-1535, on line at IAEA [https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/27/035/27035188.pdf].

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Last modified 29 September 2022.
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