ANSTO confirms worker received low dose

At 10.00am yesterday morning a radiation worker received a low radiation dose of iodine-123 while packaging radiopharmaceuticals for patient use.

The dose received was four per cent of the annual limit for radiation workers and significantly less than a patient would receive getting a nuclear medicine scan for thyroid cancer. Due to the low nature of the dose, the regulator ARPANSA** did not need to be notified.

The incident occurred during the processing of radioisotopes into radiopharmaceuticals in a controlled, monitored area. He was immediately assessed and sent for whole body monitoring which showed he had absorbed a small amount of radioactivity.

The worker does not need to undertake any treatment and is continuing to work as normal. Iodine-123 has a half life of 13 hours.

While not common, incidents of this type are not unprecedented and can occur in any production line process.

Two more incidents happened today involving radiopharmaceutical production workers. This is extremely unusual. Minor incidents of this nature normally occur around once a month.

The first incident involved a worker who was cleaning up waste in a production area who burst a pack of radioactive material; a small splash went beneath his safety glasses and into his eye.

The second involved a worker packing product when they dropped a small glass vial containing a radiopharmaceutical. Dose levels or both were once again significantly less than the amount ANSTO is obliged to report to ARPANSA.

ANSTO takes safety very seriously. All these incidents will be thoroughly investigated and the importance of safety underlined to staff.

Published: 15/06/2006

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