As part of the 177Lu production in an industrial application center (production of radio-pharmaceuticals in radionuclide laboratories) when working in a glove box, a used cannula was accidentally placed on the floor of the glove box when attempting to throw it into the designated collecting container and remained unnoticed in the glove box. The protective cap of the cannula had also come off. During the next shift, an employee discovered the cannula. When attempting to pick it up, she punctured herself with the cannula the fingertip of the middle finger of the right hand through the gloves of the glove box. A tiny amount of fluid still in the cannula got into the puncture site. However, since the specific activity of the liquid was very high, the transferred activity was around 1 MBq. The employee then stopped all work and informed the company radiation protection. Due to immediate medical treatment the activity could be lowered to 10 to 20 kBq. The local skin dose was conservatively calculated to 6.7 Sv at the puncture site. This exceeds the German statuary annual dose limit for the doses to skin of exposed radiation personnel of 500 mSv.
Location: Laboratory for radio-pharmaceutics in Bavaria Event date: Tue, 08-12-2020
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