Man ill after taking radioactive pellet home
Print Edition
A CONSTRUCTION worker is being treated in hospital after picking up a radioactive object while cleaning at a workshop in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province.
The worker, surnamed Wang, an employee of the Fifth Construction Co, part of China’s oil refiner Sinopec, thought the item was valuable.
He told police he picked up a chain-like item with a soybean-sized piece at the center about 8am last Wednesday and put it in his upper pocket. Later that day, he left the object in the yard at his house.
When a large-scale search for what turned out to be missing iridium-192 got under way, Wang wrapped it in a plastic bag and threw it into grass near his home at 5am on Saturday.
Search teams in anti-radiation suits recovered the isotope late that afternoon.
Iridium-192 is highly radioactive and contact can be fatal if it is not handled professionally.
Four people have been detained for breaching rules for working with dangerous substances, authorities said.
The gamma radiation source was being used in industrial radiography equipment by staff from Tianjin Hongdi Engineering Testing Co to inspect building materials for hidden cracks and flaws.
Hongdi staff did not discover the radioactive pellet was missing until 7pm on Thursday.
The company failed in training and management for its workers, Fang Guiping, deputy director of Nanjing’s environmental bureau, was quoted by Xinhua news agency.
The provincial environmental bureau received a report in the early hours of Friday. Staff rushed to the scene and declared the incident a serious accident, officials said.
Teams in anti-radiation suits searched for the material, with members working no longer than three minutes at a time to minimize exposure. It was found at 5:30pm on Saturday.
Tests were conducted on Wang and 93 other workers at the construction site. Only he required medical treatment, said officials. No details of his condition were released.
Police said no one else was affected by radiation.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
