[ RadSafe ] 1. official Belgian report on the Sterigenics radiation accident

[Rainer.Facius at dlr.de]

The Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (AFCN) responsible for the investigations on the accident has released its first communiqué on the Sterigenics radiation accident.

http://www.fanc.fgov.be/fr/news_2006_04_11_dossier_streigenics.htm (20060412)

(1) The dose estimate has been raised to between 4.4 to 4.8 Sv

(2) No other person has unduly been exposed. 

(3) Instrumental to the Co-60 source not being in its home position was a defect in the control system for the hydraulic gear moving the source, leading to an "oscillatory and inopportune" movement of the source holder. "Interferences between the hydraulic systems for the two irradiation rooms" GAMIRR I and GAMIRR II are hypothesized to have triggered these oscillations.

(4) No word why the ambient dose-rate meters inside GAMIRR II did not work or why the entrance was not interlocked as it should when the source is not in its home position.

Rainer