'Will be widely known how to identify radioactive sources'

The incident of radioactive source leakage at the Institute of Rare Radiation Technology has been overcome promptly, but still caused confusion in public opinion. Mr. Dang Thanh Luong, Deputy Director of Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Control discussed with VnExpress about the management process and how to identify radioactive sources.

- How is the management of radiation safety at facilities implemented?

Ministry of Science and Technology decided to punish rare radiation technology institute 44 million VND because of the occurrence of radiation loss.The institute is also banned for 3 months.(According to Lao Dong)

The Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Control and Safety is currently licensing and managing records of all radioactive sources nationwide (except for about 2,000 medical radiographs issued by the Departments of Science and Technology permission). Radioactive sources are substances that can continuously emit ionizing radiation. X-ray machines only emit radiation when there is electricity and press the control button. Therefore, radioactive sources are managed more closely, requiring licenses for all stages: From the time of import into Vietnam (or from production, if it is a domestic source), until the process of trade, transportation, use, storage and permanent burial. If used radioactive sources become waste but are still stored in warehouses, they are still considered to be the property of the agency and subject to state management. The Department must manage records and conduct regular inspections. Currently in Vietnam, the permanent burial stage has not yet been implemented, but only at the storage step, so the responsibility for preservation and statistics of radioactive sources is that of the owner.

According to the 1996 Radiation Safety and Control Ordinance, there are people in charge of radiation safety at each facility. In addition to the application file for permission to be sent to the Department, they must have a declaration of radiation sources and related certificates, a report on analyzing safety assessment of the establishment, and a certificate of training on radiation safety. (Retraining every 3 years), at the same time planning to respond to incidents, especially for establishments with relatively high radiation sources. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, we asked facilities to take measures to strengthen security for radioactive sources (anti-theft, vandalism, terrorism .). .

- Such a strict management process, why did an incident like that in the recent rare radiation technology institute?

The Department of Radiation and Nuclear Control and Safety is responsible for general management and supervision of establishments that strictly comply with the law. The responsibility of safety is owned by the owner (according to Decree 50/1998 / ND-CP). All radioactive sources are at risk of being unsafe, especially those that are easily dismantled, moved regularly, or stored unsecured. Fixed sources are more difficult to lose. In the case of the loss of radioactive sources at the Institute of Rare Radiation Technology recently, there was no supervision of strangers into agencies, especially where radioactive sources were stored, so the source was stolen. The highest responsible person here is the director of the Institute.

- After the incident, what lesson did the Department draw for managing radioactive sources?

Handling the case is only a part. The lesson from this incident is to continuously improve the safety culture for everyone, from managers to users and people. It should be understood that not only is the high radioactive source dangerous, but also low radioactive sources. Management is neglected at any stage, causing unsafety, affecting people's psychology. In addition, we also find that the responsibility of the person in charge of radiation safety of a facility is small or important. The person in charge of safety must be authorized by the owner of the facility to specifically handle the situation to ensure safety. For example, if there is a violation, there is a risk of radioactive safety, he has the right to stop the production line, despite the pressure of the owner. Another lesson is the willingness to respond to incidents. This must always be in the ready state as a fire protection system.

- In addition to radioactive sources with sufficient records, Vietnam also has radioactive sources. How are they managed now?

Radioactive sources are the sources for any reason that have never been managed by state management agencies. These are the sources of stolen, lost, but the facility does not know, or sources from long time ago, due to war, or radioactive sources mixed in iron and steel imported into Vietnam . They are also are risks to society. We are developing regulations to manage these sources, first of all to develop guidelines for waste treatment, waste sorting facilities or iron and steel processing plants to detect them. .

We encourage metal recyclers to take measures to expose early radioactive sources to avoid fusing them, causing inconvenient damage to their own facilities, the environment and the people. Every citizen should inform the management agency of their questions and findings early.

- How do people identify a radioactive source?

People have to raise awareness, especially those with high potential for exposure to radioactive sources, such as scrap collectors. Previously, the Department also distributed leaflets to guide how to identify radioactive sources, but still limited, mainly for people who come to study. After this event, the Department will strengthen the dissemination work to each citizen through means of information, leaflets and especially through the website http://www.varansac.org.vn.

Signs of radioactive sources.

A simple way to identify radioactive sources is: Often the radioactive sources are contained in heavy blocks closed, with asterisks or radioactive words or Radioactive. In case of losing all signs, but seeing that it is a very heavy, cylindrical or diamond-shaped block (usually containing lead), do not try to beat it, but should consult the responsible authorities. If such unusual blocks are found, people should call the Department of Science and Technology, Police or directly to the Department with the following phone numbers: 04 8220298; 04 9365233; 04 9365234.

Regarding the health of those who have been exposed to radioactive sources , Master Nguyen Xuan Cu, Head of the Department of Radiological Physics of K Hospital, thinks that the level of harm depends on the intensity of radiation, distance and time contact. For large, intense radioactive sources, people who are in close contact or for long periods of time can be immediately injured or even killed. On the contrary, maybe months, years, even years later, new health injuries appear. Therefore, after being exposed to the radioactive source, if the results of the health check are completely normal, it is not possible to confirm that the person is not affected.

People exposed to radioactive sources should be monitored for long-term health, with many tests, especially for blood parameters such as red blood cells, leukocytes, chromosome tests .

Thuan An