Tests Confirm No Radioactivity Release to Environment from IAEA Seibersdorf Lab, After 3 August Incident

(Extract from IAEA News)

There was an incident at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)´s Seibersdorf Laboratory on 3 August, 2008. The Laboratory is located about 35 km southeast of Vienna, Austria. The laboratories provide research and training in applying nuclear science to environmental protection, insect pest control, plant breeding, human and animal health, as well as physical and chemical studies, and nuclear instrumentation.

Tiny amount of plutonium contained in an acid solution spilled from five small glass vials when one of them burst after a build up of pressure in it. The vials were stored in a secure steel safe. In total there was less than one gram of plutonium in the five vials. The material was in the laboratory for scientific reference purposes and virtually all of the contamination was confined within the steel walled safe.

An automatic alarm was triggered when the highly sensitive detectors of the continuous air monitoring system identified minor amounts of radioactive aerosols in the storage room containing the safe. The air contamination was trapped entirely in the filters of the ventilation system. The IAEA emergency response team promptly secured and sealed off the windowless storage room.

An investigation into the circumstances and causes of the incident is still underway. In the meantime the first stage of the clean-up of the storage room was successfully completed on 22 August, 2008. Further independent tests confirmed that there was no release of activity to environment.

According to the IAEA´s nuclear regulator´s assessment of the incident, the lab´s safety systems worked properly and successfully contained the contamination. The incident was rated as level 1 (anomaly) on the Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) of events. The INES scale has seven categories, the most serious being a "major accident."

An example of good safety culture is set by the IAEA that even small incidents of this type need to be investigated and reported.