1. Radiation Accidents 2 nd Qatar International Trauma Care, Disaster & Emergency Medicine Conformance April 7-11, 2004 Prof. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

2. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 2 1- Definition of Radiation Accident 2- Sources of Radiation Accidents 3- Types of Radiation Exposures 4- Biological Effects of Radiation 5- Acute Radiation Syndrome 6- Evaluation of Radiation Accidents 7- Worldwide Radiation Accidents and Illicit Trafficking 8- Prevention of Radiation Accidents

3. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 3 1- Definition of Radiation Accident a. Accident is defined as an unintentional or unexpected happening that is undesirable or unfortunate, especially one resulting in injury, damage, harm or loss. b. Radiation accident here can be defined as a situation which results in any unplanned radiation exposure or any unplanned release of radioactive material leading to radiation exposure.

4. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 4 2- Sources of Radiation Accidents Sources of radiation can be categorized as follows: a. Sealed or encapsulated sources b. Unsealed sources c. Machine producing radiation

5. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 5 Routinely used in the field in road construction and similar applications Contain both a gamma-ray source and a neutron source 0.3 GBq 137 Cs 1.5 GBq 241 Am/Be About 30 are stolen each year in the USA alone; only 40% are recovered Moisture-Density Gauges

6. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 6 Alpha - Sources: 241 Am, 239 Plutonium, 226 Radium Activity: kBq (µCi) Smoke Detector

7. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 7 Contain 0.1-5 TBq of 60 Co, 192 Ir, or 137 Cs About 1000 times more radioactivity than moisture density gauges Radiography Sources

8. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 8 Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (1000 TBq 90 Sr) Teletherapy unit (500 TBq 60 Co) Food irradiator 400 000 TBq 60 Co High-intensity Sources

9. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 9 Radiation accidents can arise mainly from problems with: A. Nuclear Reactors B. Industrial Sources C. Medical Sources These accidents arise because of: a. Loss of shielding, resulting in high radiation levels. b. Loss of containment resulting in a release of activity. c. An uncontrolled criticality, which is, effectively, the rapid generation of a large radioactive source and high levels of radiation.

10. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 10 Radiation Accidents 3- Types of Radiation Exposures a. External Exposure. b. Contamination with Radioactive Sources. c. Combination of the above two. Contamination is defined as unwanted radioactive material on in the body

11. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 11 Radiation Accidents 4- Biological Effects of Radiation How Radiation can Lead to Damage in Tissue Radiation Electrical Effect (Ionization) Physical & Chemical Changes Damage to DNA Cell Death Cell Transformation Early Effect Cancer Hereditary Defects

12. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 12 Radiation Accidents 5- Acute Radiation Syndrome For Gamma Radiation to the whole body

13. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 13 Radiation Accidents Incidents with very high-intensity sources have caused accidents involving people unaware of what they were dealing with Discarded teletherapy source in Thailand, ~25 TBq Co-60 ~25 TBq Co-60 Georgian woodsmen injured by discarded 1500 TBq Sr-90 RTG sources

14. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 14 Radiation Accidents 6- Evaluation of Radiation Accidents The essential factor in evaluating the medical consequences of radiation accidents includes information on the following: a. External radiation (neutron, Xray or gamma radiation) and penetration. b. Low-energy surface external reaction (beta radiation). c. Initial surface contamination (important for evaluation of oral or transdermal intake of radionuclides). d. Exposure to gaseous forms of radinuclides (eg. noble gases).

15. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 15 Radiation Accidents 7- Worldwide Radiation Accidents & Illicit Trafficking Incidents with Radioactive Sources grouped for Activity

16. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 16 Radiation Accidents Frequency of various Nuclides

17. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 17 Radiation Accidents We can summarize the radiation accidents that resulted in radiation injury in medicine and industry in the following table:

18. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 18 Radiation Accidents 8- Prevention of Radiation Accidents The turning point in global interest of radiation safety and security problems was the International conference on Safety of Radiation Sources and Security of Radioactive Materials. The conference was cosponsored by the IAEA together with INTERPOL, the World Customs Organization, and the European Commission. It took place from September 14 to 18, 1998 in Dijon, France. I quote here some of the major findings of the Dijon Conference, which are strongly related to our topic:

19. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 19 Radiation Accidents a- Sources of ionizing radiation must have sufficient protection to allow for safe normal operations. b- The possibility of accidental exposures involving radiation sources, must be anticipated and there must be appropriate safety devices and procedures. In this connection:

20. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 20 Radiation Accidents i- weaknesses in the design and construction of radiation sources must be corrected; ii- a high level of safety culture in the handling of radiation sources must be promoted, so that — inter alia — human errors are minimized through good training; and the concept of safety culture was to make it clear that safety should be the highest priority in organization handling radiation sources, which should be prepared to identify and correct problems promptly; that clear lines of responsibility should be established, not only for organization in handling sources but also in the governmental agencies controlling the use of sources. The lines of authority for decision making should be clearly defined. iii- regulatory infrastructures for the control of radiation sources must be supported by governments and be able to act independently, and the regulatory authority in each country must maintain oversight of all radiation sources in that country.

21. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 21 Radiation Accidents c- Radiation sources should not be allowed to drop out of the regulatory control system. This means that the regulatory authority must keep up-to-date records of the person responsible for each source, monitor transfers of sources and track the fate of each source at the end of its useful life. d-Efforts should be made to find radiation sources that are not in the regulatory authority’s inventory, because they were in the country before the inventory was established, or were never specifically licensed or were lost, abandoned or stolen (such radiation sources are often referred to as “orphan” sources)

22. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 22 Radiation Accidents Conclusion It is clear from these points that the key common element is effective national regulatory authorities operating, within suitable national infrastructures. Therefore: a- Governments are urged to create regulatory authorities for radiation sources if they do not exist. b- The government must provide it with sufficient backing and with sufficient human and financial resources to enable it to function effectively.

23. Dr. M. I. Al-Jarallah 9 April 2004 Radiation Accidents 23 Radiation Accidents Thank you