News: Radioactive Material Hospitalizes 3

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--------------------------------------------

Date:    Sat, 5 Jan 2002 12:19:43 EST

From:    Carter Schroy <CBS970@AOL.COM>

Subject: News: Radioactive Material Hospitalizes 3



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





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