Date: 24 July 1996

Location: Gilan, Iran

Type of event: lost industrial radiography source

Description:

During the night of 23-24 July a radiographer used a 5-Ci iridium-192 source for checking boiler welds at a fossil fuel power plant. The source became detached from the radiography device cable and fell into a trench, unknown to the operator. About 8:00 AM on 24 July a worker discovered the pencil-sized source and put it in a chest pocket. He occasionally removed it and examined it over the next 90 minutes, at which time he began to experience dizziness, nausea, lethagy, and a burning feeling in the chest; he then returned the source to where he had found it. Operators had discovered the source was missing at 9:00 and found it at 10:00, unaware that someone had suffered exposure. The exposed worker reported his illness at 13:00. The worker received a whole body dose of 450 rem and larger localized doses (up to 5,000 rad to the chest) requiring plastic surgery.

Consequences: 1 injury.

References:

• IAEA, March 2002, The Radiological Accident in Gilan, IAEA (Vienna, Austria), on line at IAEA [http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1123_scr.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].
• Voisin, P., R. G. Assaei, A. Heidary, R. Varzegar, F. Zakeri, V. Durand, and I. Sorokine-Durm, 2000, "Mathematical methods in biological dosimetry: the 1996 Iranian accident," International Journal of Radiation Biology, 76:1545-1554.

© 2004-2006, 2007 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 22 September 2007.
Return to Home. Return to Nuclear Weapons Resources. Return to Database of radiological incidents and related events.