On 27th February 2022, the National Radiation Protection Department (NRPD) of Iran Nuclear Regulatory Authority (INRA) received an alarm from a Radiation Portal Monitoring System (RPMS) installed in west border of the country for monitoring trucks carrying imported goods. Reported count rate from the truck loaded with copper scrap metals was 4 times of the background. After investigation and monitoring of the scrap metals, the tip part of a lightning rod with ten screwed Ra-226 sources was found. The tip part was transported to Iran nuclear waste management company for more analysis and be wasted.
Estimated total activity of Ra-226 is 48 MBq (4.8 E-05 TBq). Considering D value and A/D are 4 E-02 and 1.2 E-03 respectively, it is Category 5 source.
Maximum effective dose to radiation workers was about 61 µSv and doses to members of the public were negligible.
Location: Islamic Republic of Iran, West border Event date: Sun, 27-02-2022
Everywhere you look, the nuclear industry’s hype machine is in overdrive. Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and the UK government all tout small modular reactors as the silver bullet for climate change and energy security. Tech billionaires are hiring nuclear veterans. Wall Street is whispering about “round-the-clock power” for artificial intelligence data centers. For those old enough […]
Kernenergie en veiligheid: A wargame sought to test if a major radiological release that would prompt the evacuation of millions of civilians in South Korea could distract key US allies from assisting and rebuffing an all-out military invasion of Taiwan. The short answer was yes. The game originally presumed that China, wanting to keep the […]
Big batteries and EVs to the rescue again as faults with new nuclear plant cause chaos on Nordic grids The Finnish nuclear power plant Olkiluoto was finally connected to the grid last year, at an estimated cost of €11 billion compared to the original budget of €3 billion. That cost blowout forced its developer, the […]
A vast subsea nuclear graveyard planned to hold Britain’s burgeoning piles of radioactive waste is set to become the biggest, longest-lasting and most expensive infrastructure project ever undertaken in the UK. The project [UK's nuclear waste dump] is now predicted to take more than 150yrs to complete with lifetime costs of £66bn in today’s money...The […]
Last year, the Dutch Province of Limburg started an alliance in which, besides the local government, research institutes, small nuclear reactor (SMR) developers, utilities, industrial customers and funders cooperated. With this "Limburg SMR alliance" Limburg tried to lead the way towards an SMR in Limburg. The preferred site for a first SMR would be Chemelot, […]
