Estonia Update

[loesch@viper.eh.doe.gov (Robert M. Loesch)]

        The following information was faxed to me from Tom Diamantstein 
        of the Atomic Energy Control Board, Ottawa, Canada, on 12/7/94.

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

                                     UPDATE

        STATUS REPORT:  Radioactive object found in Estonian house
                        of Kiisa, south of Tallinn

        Further on the report of radiation exposure from a radioactive
        metal bar found in a home near the Estonian capital of Tallinn:

        1.  IAEA has informed me this morning (Dec. 5/94) that an expert
            fact finding mission organized by the Nuclear Safety Div.,
            Radiation Safety Sect. had been authorized on Tuesday,
            November 29, 1994 by the Estonian government to investigate the
            accident;

        2.  Experts made up of IAEA radiation safety specialist, 
            Mr. Ortiz-Lopez and Dr. Nino & Dr. Nicole Pomatiere from ISPN
            (France) have left for Estonia on Wednesday, November 30;
            in addition, there are other health physics specialists from
            Sweden & Finland in Kiisa;

        3.  Attenuation measurements have indicated that the source of
            radiation could not have been from Cesium-137 but from
            Cobalt-60, probably originating from an irradiator source used
            for sterilization that was found in a foundry last January;
            an IAEA specialist from Vienna is leaving for Kiisa today
            (Dec. 5/94) with a spectrometer in order to carry out more
            accurate attenuation calculations;

        4.  Three patients are in hospital - the grandmother of the family
            had received approximately 400 rads, two of the brothers
            had received a lower dose of radiation and the boy who picked up
            the source had received a serious burn to his hands; there are
            no adequate medical facilities to isolate the patients and there
            is concern over infection; the father of the family died earlier
            in November due to radiation exposure.

******************************************************
* Robert M. Loesch                                   *
* DOELAP Administrator     U.S. Department of Energy *
*                          EH-411, GTN, 270 CC       *
* (301) 903-4443   voice   Washington, DC  20585     *
* (301) 903-7773   fax                               *
*           email: loesch@viper.eh.doe.gov           *
******************************************************
   Random number generation is too important a task
                 to be left to chance!