Exit Signs

["John Arnish" <arnishj@smtplink.dis.anl.gov>]

      Got this in from a friend of mine.  This is the first I have heard about  
      this.  Thought some of you may be interested. 

      John Arnish 

      jarnish@anl.gov

*** Standard Disclaimers Apply




     May 12, 1997
     
                             NRC STAFF ADVISES NEW JERSEY IN RESPONSE TO
     
                    INGESTION OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL BY 16-YEAR-OLD 
     UNION BOY
     
     The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is advising the State of 
     New Jersey in its response to the ingestion of radioactive
     material by a 16-year-old Union, N.J., boy on Saturday. The event 
     is not believed to pose a health hazard to the boy or other
     members of the public.
     
     The teenager has told officials he removed three "exit" signs from 
     a demolition site on Commerce Avenue in Union, and took
     them to his home. While eating a snack, in his basement bedroom, 
     the boy dismantled one of the signs, breaking several tubes
     containing radioactive tritium gas in the process. He contacted 
     local emergency response personnel after seeing the radioactive
     materials label. Emergency personnel contacted the State of New 
     Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP),
     who then contacted the NRC. Representatives from DEP and the 
     Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory
     responded and collected urine samples from the teenager and several 
     others who visited him in his home. In addition, officials
     took samples from the bedroom and other areas of the home to 
     determine the extent of contamination.
     
     The 16-year-old has an uptake of tritium, the exact extent of which 
     is still being evaluated. Preliminary estimates project a dose
     comparable to the dose typically received by an individual in one 
     year from natural background radiation. The boy has been
     advised to drink extra fluids to flush the tritium from his body. 
     Only minute traces of tritium have been found in other
     individuals.
     
     Survey results so far show moderate contamination in the boy's 
     bedroom, but only trace amounts elsewhere in the house. 
     
     One additional "exit" sign was retrieved from the demolition site. 
     The signs are licensed by the NRC under a general license.
     Owners are required under terms of the license either to return 
     them to the manufacturer or dispose of them by spproved
     means at the end of their use. NRC will conduct a follow-up 
     inspection of the apparent loss of control of generally licensed
     material.