RE: Ir-192 exposure in Peru

["Vargo, George J" <vargo@pnl.gov>]

Last week, Nuclear News Flashes (McGraw Hill --  publishers of Nucleonics Week)
reported that the individual found, picked up and carried in his pocket a 36.75
Ci Ir-192 source.  The victim states that it was in his pocket for ~5h.  Using a
surface dose rate factor of 1200 rad/Ci-min for encapsulated Ir-192  one comes
up with a very big number -- lilkely an overestimate because the source probably
shifted in his pocket, distributing the dose over a larger area of the skin
surface.  A team of US specialists returned from Peru on Mon 3/23.  More details
should become available in the near future.

George J. Vargo, Ph.D., CHP
International Nuclear Safety Program
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
509-375-6836; 509-375-2019 (fax)
vargo@pnl.gov
INSP web site:  http://atom.pnl.gov:2080

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