Date: 5 June 1979

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Type of event: lost source

Description:

A radiographer was worker at a temporary job site with a 28-curie iridium-192 industrial radiography source. When leaving the site, he failed to secure the camera and source. The source fell out of the camera and was picked up by a worker who did not know it was radioactive. This worker placed it in a hip pants pocket for 45 minutes before giving it to a plant manager. He incurred a 1.5 megarem surface dose (60,000 rem at 1 cm depth), requiring skin grafts to the buttocks, and a whole body dose of order 68 rem. Four other workers suffered localized radiation injuries to the hands, and 11 individuals were exposed altogether.

Consequences: 5 injuries.

References:

• Beck, William L., 1980, "Radiation accident dosimetry," Nuclear Instruments and Methods, 175:150-152.
• Dicus, Greta Joy, 4 April 1997, "Materials safety and regulation," on line, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/speeches/1997/s97-08.html].
• Mould, R. F., 2000, Chernobyl Record: The Definitive History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe, Institute of Physics Publ. (Bristol, UK).
• Ortiz, P., M. Oresegun, and J. Wheatley, 2000, "Lessons from major radiation accidents," on line, Internationl Radiation Protection Association [http://www.irpa.net/irpa10/cdrom/00140.pdf].
• UNSCEAR, 2000, "Annex E: Occupational radiation exposures," in Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation: United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation UNSCEAR 2000 Report to the General Assembly, with Scientific Annexes, Volume I: Sources, UNSCEAR, on line at UNSCEAR [http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/annexe.pdf].

© 2004, 2006, 2008 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 26 October 2008.
Return to Home. Return to Nuclear Weapons Resources. Return to Database of radiological incidents and related events.