Date: 1982

Location: Vikhroli, Bombay, India

Type of event: lost source

Description:

An iridium-192 source was lost during transport. A railway worker found the source and suffered significant exposure, including a whole-body dose of 40 to 60 rad and localized skin exposure in the groin area of 150 to 3,500 rad, resulting in severe radiation burns in the pelvic region.

Consequences: 1 injury.

References:

• Gangadharan, P. A. V. Lakshmipathy, B. K. S. Murthy, and Geetha Varadharajan, April 1988, "Assessment of radiation exposure to a non-radiation worker in an industrial radiography source transport accident," 7th IRPA Congress Proceedings, on line, IRPA [http://www2000.irpa.net/irpa7/cdrom/VOL.2/S2_75.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, 2007 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 22 September 2007.
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