Radiation accidents involving

In contrast, for accidents involving radiation, there were... 

Experience from the 1986 Chernobyl reactor accident in the Ukraine shows the potential magnitude and impact of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant. The accident involved an explosion in a reactor that releases very high levels of radiation for miles surrounding the reactor site. Low levels of radiation were spread by wind currents throughout Europe and the rest of the world. According to Caldicott 2002,... 

Cooper, E.L., Valkovic, V., Strachnov, V., Dekner, R. and Danesi, P.R., Results of the intercalibration study of laboratories involved in assessing the environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident. Appl. Radiat. Isot., 43 (1992) 149. 

Radiological Hazards. Adversaries and even terrorist could spread radioactive material in an effort to deny US forces access to key terrain, roads, and buildings. The use of radiation dispersal devices and destruction of local nuclear reactors by terrorists are examples of radiological threats. Other radiological hazards present during deployments may include improperly dumped waste and accidents involving radioactive commodities. 

Very large instantaneous doses (> 10 Gy) occur in explosions of nuclear weapons, in accidents involving nuclear reactors, or from carelessness in working with accelerators, X-ray equipment or radioactive installations (e.g. Co sources used for technical and therapeutic purposes), criticality accidents, and in handling unshielded strong radiation sources or unshielded radioactive waste. Such doses are very unlikely to be received in work involving amounts of 1 GBq of radioactivity. 

As a result of medical investigations, certain radiation factors affecting the personnel and the population as a result of an accident involving damage from nuclear weapons were determined and compared with the impact of factors related to weapons of mass destruction. 

Limiting the external radiation level at 3 m from the unshielded low dispersible radioactive material to 10 mSv/h ensures that the potential external dose is consistent with the potential consequences of severe accidents involving Industrial packages (see para. 521). 

Special instmments may be important, depending on the kind of accident involved. For radiation releases, Geiger counters or similar instmments are essential to gain readings... 

The most effective way of planning for such accidents is to rely on the infrastructure that is already in place for handling transportation accidents involving conventional hazardous materials and to provide a national or regional capability to provide additional support personnel trained and equipped for dealing with radiation emergencies. 

Because of the high radiotoxicity of the actinides and a widespread interest in the possible use of lanthanide radionuclides as diagnostic or therapeutic agents in clinical medicine, the ability of chelators to modify the biokinetics of f elements in the body has been widely studied. In the nuclear-energy industry, the interest has been predominantly in the development of chelators which could be used therapeutically in the case of an accident involving contamination with plutonium or americium to enhance the naturally slow rate of elimination of these elements from the body and thereby reduce the risk of long-term radiation injury. This aspect of chelation therapy has recently been reviewed in depth by Taylor (1991). Since the work on the effects of chelators on lanthanide interactions in vivo has been reviewed recently by Evans (1990), both aspects are discussed only briefly here. 

According to the estimates, as a result of design basis accidents involving the most unfavourable radiation consequences, the effective radiation exposure dose at a distance of 1 km or more from the plant will not be in excess of 5% of the maximum permissible value. 

Report all accidents involving radioactive materials to your supervisor and to the radiation safety office. 

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, "A Summary of Accidents and Incidents Involving Radiation in Atomic Energy Activities, June 1945 through December 1955," Technical Information Document (TID)-5360, p. iv. 

Radiation sources have wide application in medicine, industry, research, agriculture and education. Such sources must be managed safely and securely. Incorrectly used or unsecured radioactive sources can cause death, serious injury and economic loss, as experience in many parts of the world has shown. The IAEA has published a number of reports that review the human health consequences of accidents involving a loss of control over or misuse of sources [1-14]. Economic losses can also be high, especially following accidents that cause widespread radioactive contamination, such as those at Juarez, Mexico, in 1983 [15] and GoiSnia, Brazil, in 1987 [1]. 

This chapter covers the spectrum of radiation-associated incidents. One can only hope that it will never be needed as a result of a terrorist incident. It should not be forgotten, however, that accidents involving radioactive materials, of greater and lesser significance, occur on an infrequent but regular basis, ranging from transportation accidents to devastating incidents such as occurred at Chernobyl. 

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