Re: Estonia

[don@radpro.uchicago.edu]

The following message was originally contributed to RADSAFE on 12/6/94
by Robert M. Loesch, DOELAP Administrator.  You might contact him directly 
for additional info or check the radsafe archives.
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        Additional information is only trickling in but ...

        The Cs-137 source was stolen from an outdoor radioactive material
        storage area that had little security (one strand of barbed wire 
        and a single guard for an area of hundreds of hectares).  The source
        was taken for its lead content.  After removing the lead, the father
        put the Cs-137 source into his pocket and took it home (he later
        died).  His son is in the hospital in critical condition with 
        radiation burns on his hands.  A pregnant women is known to have
        been exposed to some degree.  The grandmother is said to have received
        a significant dose.  Blood samples from seven individuals have been 
        taken and are being cytogenetically evaluated in Helsinki.

******************************************************
* 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           *
******************************************************
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