UPDATE 26 JUNE 2012: One of the service personnel (radiation worker) received 172 mSv (17.2 rem) whole body dose and 1 Sv (101.3 rem) to the extremities. Another of the service personnel (radiation worker) received 175 mSv (17.5 rem) whole body dose and 616 mSv (61.6 rem) to the extremities. The facility radiation safety officer received 114 mSv (11.4 rem) whole body dose. The doses for the three individuals were determined by the actual reading of individual dosimeters. Four additional radiation workers received whole body doses that ranged between 15 mSv (1.5 rem) and 35 mSv (3.5 rem).
ORIGINAL 11 OCTOBER 2011: During loading of a 44.8 TBq (1210 curie) Co-60 source into a research irradiator at the licensee’s New Jersey facility, approximately 10 cm of the 20 cm source somehow became dislodged for approximately 25 to 30 seconds, exposing two service personnel (radiation workers) and a radiation safety officer (RSO) the licensee had employed under reciprocity using a Pennsylvania license. The service personnel were working under the supervision and direction of the Pennsylvania licensee. The insertion tool prevented the workers from re-inserting the dislodged source quickly. However, the workers were able to shield the source with titanium and forced it into place by breaking off the insertion tool. The service personnel received approximately 81 and 77 mSv (8.1 and 7.7 rem) each to the whole body based on readings obtained from electronic dosimeters the workers were wearing. In addition, the two service personnel received an estimated 500 to 600 mSv (50 to 60 rem) to the extremities. The RSO received approximately 114 mSv (11.4 rem) to the whole body. This dose was based on an actual reading of the individual’s dosimetry which was sent for processing. In addition, four other workers who were in attendance during the attempted source exchange received approximately 15 mSv (1.5 rem) to 35 mSv (3.5 rem) whole body. Final dose assessments are being conducted.
Location: Central New Jersey Event date: Sat, 08-10-2011
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, […]