Despite there being no impact on the local community and its staff, ANSTO today announced it has informed its regulator, ARPANSA, of increased radiation levels in limited locations on its Lucas Heights facility.
"ARPANSA have been informed of the situation because the radiation level has exceeded one of the notification levels," said ANSTO Acting Executive Director, Dr Ron Cameron.
"There is no measurable change to the already very low doses to the public, which continue to be well below regulatory requirements," continued Dr Cameron.
"A notification level triggers an investigation, which is now underway. Notification levels, however, are set well below levels which would have any impact on people, either on or off our site.
"The emissions are related to the production of Molybdenum, the base radioisotope used in the production of Technetium99 and Gentech, used in over 70% of Australian nuclear medicine procedures and which save thousands of lives each year," said Dr Cameron.
"We are currently working on identifying the origin of the emission problem and determining the most appropriate actions to implement so that the issue can be resolved."
Production of molybdenum has been temporarily halted as a precaution to allow the investigation to proceed.
"These emissions are from noble gases escaping more than is normal in relation to our extremely high safety standards," explained Dr Cameron. "These gases do not react with any other substance.
"We have been able to detect the slight increase in the levels of these radioactive noble gases due to the ultra-sensitive ‘real time’ radiation monitoring system installed at ANSTO in recent years."
The increases in exposure to a few staff are still well within accepted safety levels.