Kramatorsk radiological accident

Kramatorsk radiological accident
Country Ukraine
Location Building 7, Hvardiitsiv Kantemyrivtsiv street, Kramatorsk, Donets'ka 84314, Ukraine
 - coordinates 48°44′3″N 37°36′22″E / 48.73417°N 37.60611°E / 48.73417; 37.60611Coordinates: 48°44′3″N 37°36′22″E / 48.73417°N 37.60611°E / 48.73417; 37.60611
Caesium-137 source

The Kramatorsk radiological accident was a radiation accident that happened in Kramatorsk, Ukrainian SSR from 1980 to 1989. In 1989, a small capsule containing highly radioactive caesium-137 was found inside the concrete wall of an apartment building, with a surface gamma radiation exposure dose rate of 1800 R/year.[1]

It is believed that the source, originally a part of a measurement device (most likely a level meter), was lost in the late 1970s and ended up mixed with material used to construct the building in 1980.[2]

Over 9 years, two families lived in the apartment. By the time the capsule was discovered, 6 residents of the building had died from leukemia and 17 more had received varying doses of radiation. The accident was detected only after the residents requested that the level of radiation be measured in the apartment by a health physicist.

The address where the accident occurred is Gvardeytsiv Kantemirovtsiv Street, Building 7, Apartment 85, between apartments 85 and 52.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Gusev, Igor, Guskova, Angelina, & Mettler, Fred A. (Eds.). (2001). Medical management of radiation accidents. CRC Press.
  2. ↑ "Security and Nonproliferation, Issue 2(8)2005, Kyiv, 2005" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-02-06.
  3. ↑ "Early Medical Consequences of Radiation Incidents in the Former URRS Territory" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-02-06.
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