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Re: Definition of radiation accident and radiation incident
According with the IAEA:
1- Accident - Any unintended event, including operating errors, equipment
failures or other mishaps, the consequences or potential consequences of
which are not negligible from the point of view of protection or safety.
Nuclear accident - Any accident involving facilities or activities from
which a release of radioactive material occurs or is likely to occur and
which has resulted or may result in an international transboundary release
that could be of radiological safety significance for another State.
This is not explicitly stated to be a definition of nuclear accident, but it
is derived from the statement of the scope of application in Article 1 of
the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, and therefore
may be regarded as such a definition. For the purposes of Agency
publications,
2 - The word incident is often used, in INES and elsewhere, to describe
events that are, in effect, minor accidents, i.e. that are distinguished
from accidents only in terms of being less severe. This is an arbitrary
distinction with little basis in normal usage.
An incident can be minor or major, just as an accident can, but unlike an
accident, an incident can be caused intentionally.
Nuclear incident - Any occurrence or series of occurrences having the same
origin which causes nuclear damage or, but only with
respect to preventive measures, creates a grave and imminent threat of
causing such damage.
The definition, as you can see, does not distinguish between nuclear or
radiological or radioactive sources. So, considering radioactive sources,
you can use the same concept, Example - The Radiological Accident in
Goiania, (Not as many use to write Radiological Incident of Goiania) I wrote
to IAEA that I can't agree with a level less than 6.
I have proposed to IAEA to create a new Scale, IRES International
Radiological Event System with the same levels than those used in INES.
Jose Julio Rozental
joseroze@netvision.net.il
Israel
----- Original Message -----
From: Abu-Jarad, Falah A
To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 1:57 PM
Subject: Definition of radiation accident and radiation incident
What are the definitions of radiation accident and radiation incident?
I understand that radiation accident according to IAEA Nuclear event scales
is ranged from scales 4-7 and radiation incident from scales 1-3.
But for portable radiation sources (like industrial radiography) what is the
difference between radiation incident and accident?.
Dr. Falah Abu-Jarad
Falah.abujarad@aramco.com
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