From AP and AOL about Sr-90 exposure of lumberjacks in Georgia

[AndrewsJP@AOL.COM]

Radioactive Material Hospitalizes 3


By MISHA DJINDZHIKHASHVILI

.c The Associated Press


  

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Three lumberjacks who found containers with highly radioactive materials in a forest were hospitalized in serious condition, and hundreds of villagers living nearby have been thrown into panic, officials said Saturday. 


The two containers with strontium-90, believed to have been used in signal beacons during the construction of a nearby hydroelectric plant 30 years ago, were found sometime last month near the village of Dzhvare, about 135 miles southwest of the capital Tbilisi. 


Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Tbilisi on Saturday to visit the site, said Soso Kukushadze, head of the radiation and nuclear security department of the Environment Ministry. 


The area, about 550-yards in diameter, has been fenced off, Kukushadze said. A special task force was being assembled, but he warned that receiving the equipment to remove the strontium is a question of financing. 


``We hope the government allocates the necessary money,'' Kukushadze said. 


The containers are emitting radiation at a rate of 15 roentgens an hour from a distance of 5 feet - which is thousands of times higher than normal background radiation. 


About 3,000 villagers live in the area, and many have started to report headaches and other symptoms, but Kukushadze dismissed the cases as ``radiation phobia.'' 


``There is absolutely no threat to the health of the residents of Dzhvare,'' Kukushadze said. 


AP-NY-01-05-02 1146EST


Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.  All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 



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John Andrews

Knoxville, Tennessee