The Nuclear Safety Authority of France (ASN) was informed on 15 June 2007 about an irradiation incident involving, on the same day, a radiation therapist at the radiation therapy centre Georges François Leclerc at Dijon. This event occurred during the treatment of a patient in radiation therapy. The irradiation of the patient was started as a radiation therapist was still present in the treatment room. The irradiation was interrupted in emergency after around ten seconds. The radiation therapist who was staying near the accelerator has been exposed to a part of the radiation beam delivered to the patient. An assessment of the dose received by the radiation therapist, performed by the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), could confirm that the dose received was in excess of the annual regulatory dose limit allowed for a worker (20 mSv. Due to the effective dose received – about 30 mSv – there are no health effect expected for this person. The ASN's Dijon Division performed, on June 18, 2007, a reactive inspection at the Georges François Leclerc centre to investigate the chronology and causes of the incident and assess the corrective actions taken by the centre. It has been found that the incident results from human errors and a lack of procedure. The centre has taken immediate corrective organisational measures and committed itself to perform an in-depth risk identification analyse. This event involves a worker. Due to the overrun of one of the regulatory exposure limits (effective dose in excess of 20 mSv for 12 consecutive months), ASN rates this incident at level 2 on the experimental radiological event scale INES.
CONTACT PERSONS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Name : David Krembel, Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, 6 place du colonel Bourgoin 75572 Paris cedex 12 France Tel : +33 1 40 19 88 44 E-mail : david.krembel@asn.fr
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