S-35 Spill at UCSD

[Joel Baumbaugh <baumbaug@nosc.mil>]

A small S-35 spill at University of California, San Diego made the news 
here.  Seems like UCSD has had "more" than their share of problems 
recently.  Still no RSO?

I "hope" this comes through on everyone's computer - some "older" browsers 
may have problems reading it.  Here is the website: 
http://www.uniontrib.com/ you can find the article in the "local news"...jb

	Joel Baumbaugh (baumbaug@nosc.mil)


  15 exposed to low-level radioactivity

  None injured in spill at UCSD lab

  By Kristen Green
  STAFF WRITER

  July 13, 2000


  Fifteen people were exposed last night to a low-level radioactive 
material in a
  University of California San Diego laboratory, but no one was injured.

  A janitor cleaning the laboratory in Pacific Hall stepped in a hazardous
  material that had been spilled on the floor, said John Palmer, a UCSD safety
  officer. Researchers apparently walked through the material and spread it 
into
  an adjacent laboratory without realizing it, he said.

  Palmer described the material as a sulfur compound, a radioisotope being
  used in the lab for research purposes. The sulfur compound won't penetrate
  the skin, he said, and would be dangerous only if ingested or inhaled. It was
  unlikely that the material was inhaled because the air in the lab is changed
  about 12 times an hour, Palmer said.

  The material apparently was spilled onto the floor after one of the 
researchers
  mistakenly set a plastic container full of radioisotopic waste on the floor.

  Researchers and a professor exposed to the material handled the initial
  clean-up last night. After they removed the sulfur compound from the floor,
  they were evaluated by the San Diego Fire Department's hazardous-materials
  team to determine whether any radioactive material remained on their skin or
  clothes, said fire Battalion Chief Rich Leap.

  The hazardous-materials team also checked the building to determine whether
  any of the materials had been tracked outside of the laboratory, Leap said.



  Copyright 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.


************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html