List of civilian radiation accidents

See also: Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents

2007 ISO radioactivity danger symbol intended for IAEA Category 1, 2, and 3 sources defined as dangerous sources capable of causing death or serious injury.

This article lists notable civilian accidents involving radioactive materials or involving ionizing radiation from artificial sources such as x-ray tubes and particle accelerators. Accidents related to nuclear power that involve fissile materials are listed at List of civilian nuclear accidents. Military accidents are listed at List of military nuclear accidents.

Scope of this article

In listing civilian radiation accidents, the following criteria have been followed:

1. There must be well-attested and substantial health damage, property damage or contamination.
2. The damage must be related directly to radioactive materials or ionizing radiation from a man-made source, not merely taking place at a facility where such are being used.
3. To qualify as "civilian", the operation/material must be principally for non-military purposes.
4. The event is not an event involving fissile material or a nuclear reactor.

Before 1950s

• Clarence Madison Dally (1865–1904) – No INES level – New Jersey – overexposure of laboratory worker
• Various dates – No INES level – France – overexposure of scientists
  • Marie Curie (1867–1934) was a Polish-French physicist and chemist. She was a pioneer in the early field of radioactivity, later becoming the first two-time Nobel laureate and the only person with Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry. Her death, at age 67, in 1934 was from aplastic anemia due to massive exposure to radiation in her work, ^[2] much of which was carried out in a shed with no proper safety measures being taken, as the damaging effects of hard radiation were not generally understood at that time. She was known to carry test tubes full of radioactive isotopes in her pocket, and to store them in her desk drawer, resulting in massive exposure to radiation. She was known to remark on the pretty blue-green light the metals gave off in the dark. Although her papers are likely to present little risk today, they are nonetheless contaminated with Radium. They are kept in lead-lined boxes, and those who wish to consult them must wear gloves and sign a waiver out of caution. ^{[3] [4]}
• Various dates – No INES level – various locations – overexposure of workers
  • Luminescent radium was used to paint watches and other items that glowed. The most notable incident is the "Radium Girls" of Orange, New Jersey where many workers suffered from radiation poisoning. Other towns including Ottawa, Illinois experienced contamination of homes and other structures, and became Superfund cleanup sites.
• Various dates – No INES level – Colorado, USA – contamination
  • Radium mining and manufacturing left a number of streets in the state's capital and largest city of Denver contaminated. ^[5]
• 1927–1930 – No INES level – USA – radium poisoning
  • Eben Byers ingested almost 1400 bottles of Radithor, a radioactive patent medicine, leading to his death in 1932. He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a lead-lined coffin. ^[6]

1950s

• March, 1957 – No INES level – Houston, Texas, USA – exposure of workers
  • Two employees of a company licensed by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to encapsulate sources for radiographic cameras received radiation burns after being exposed to ¹⁹²Ir powder. The incident was reported in Look Magazine in 1961, but investigations published by the Mayo Clinic that same year found few of the radiological injuries claimed in widespread press reports.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 10 October 1957 – Windscale fire at the facility in Cumberland, Northern England (now Sellafield, Cumbria), UK. It lasted for three days and spread significant quantities of radioactive isotopes across the UK and Europe. Modern assessment of historical data rated the event a 5 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, indicating an accident with widespread consequences.
• 2 July 1956 – Sylvania Electric Products explosion in Queens, New York City. Explosions of thorium slugs resulted in the death by toxic heavy metal poisoning of one plant employee. ^[7]
• June, 1958 – Y-12 National Security Complex criticality incident – Eight workers injured in the incident.

1960s

• In the 1962 Mexico City radiation accident, a boy found a 5 Curie Co-60 lost source in Mexico City and brought it home. Prolonged exposure to the source caused the death of the boy and three other members of the family.

• In 1964, Robert Peabody died after an accident at the United Nuclear Corporation Fuels Recovery Plant in Wood River Junction Rhode Island.

1970s

• 1975 – Brescia, Italy, at a cereal irradiation facility with four Cobalt-60 sources, a worker entered the irradiation room by climbing onto the conveyor belt. His first symptoms of exposure (nausea, vomiting, headache and erythema) were attributed to insecticides. For more than two days, his exposure to an unshielded 500 TBq source remained unknown to the physicians. He died 13 days after exposure; his whole body dose was evaluated at 12 Gy, non-uniform. ^[8]
• 1977 – Dounreay, United Kingdom – release of nuclear material

• An explosion at the Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment caused a mixture of unrecorded waste to be leaked from a waste disposal shaft. ^[9]

• July 13, 1978 – Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, Russia – Anatoli Bugorski survives high-energy proton beam from a particle accelerator passing through his brain. ^[10]
• July 16, 1979 – Church Rock uranium mill spill – release of radioactive mine tailings

• An earth/clay dike of a United Nuclear Corporation uranium mill settling/evaporating pond failed. The broken dam released 100 million U.S. gallons (380,000 m³) of radioactive liquids and 1,100 short tons (1,000 t) of solid wastes, which settled out up to 70 miles (100 km) down the Puerco River ^[11] and also near a Navajo farming community that uses surface waters. As a result, the Navajo community suffered serious health implications. ^[12] The pond was past its planned and licensed life and had been filled two feet (60 cm) deeper than design, despite evident cracking.

• September 29, 1979 – Tritium leak at American Atomics in Tucson, Arizona. At the public school across the street from the plant, $300,000 worth of food was found to be contaminated. The chocolate cake had 56  nCi/L (2,100 Bq/L) of tritium. ^{[13] [14] [15] [16]}

1980s

• Early 1981 – Douglas Crofut, an unemployed industrial radiographer, was injured by an unknown source of radiation, suffering severe radiation burns from which he would ultimately die. Although the source of radiation was never conclusively determined, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission strongly suspected that the source was an ¹⁹²Ir industrial radiographic source which had temporarily gone missing and had been in the care of a fellow industrial radiographer living near Crofut. At the time of his injury and death, Crofut was reported to have been the first such death in the US since the Manhattan Project. Crofut's death is notable for being the only US death attributable to an unknown source of radiation, along with being the only known case in the US of a suspected suicide undertaken via radiation exposure. ^[17]
• July 1981 – Lycoming, Nine Mile Point, New York. An overloaded wastewater tank was deliberately flushed into a building subbasement, resulting in a pool four feet deep. This caused a number of the approximately 150 55-gallon drums stored there to overturn and spill their contents. Fifty thousand U.S. gallons (190 m³) of contaminated water was discharged into Lake Ontario. ^[18]
• 1982 – International Nutronics of Dover, New Jersey spilled an unknown quantity of ⁶⁰Co solution used to treat gems, modify chemicals, and sterilize food and medical supplies. The solution spilled into the Dover sewer system and forced shutdown of the plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was only informed of the accident ten months later by a whistleblower.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 1982 – Cobalt-60 (possibly from a radiotherapy source) became recycled into steel rebar and used in the construction of buildings in northern Taiwan, principally in Taipei, from 1982 through 1984. Over 200 residential and other buildings were found to have been built using the material. ^[19] About 7000 people are believed to have been exposed to long-term low-level radiation as a result. ^[20] In the summer of 1992, a utility worker for the Taiwanese state-run electric utility Taipower brought a Geiger counter to his apartment to learn more about the device, and discovered that his apartment was contaminated. ^[20] Despite awareness of the problem, owners of some of the buildings suspected to be contaminated have continued to rent apartments out to tenants (in part because selling the units is illegal). Some research has found that the radiation has had an apparent "beneficial" effect upon the health of the tenants based on the death rate from cancers. ^[21] Another study looking at the incidence of cancer found that although the overall risk of cancer was sharply reduced (SIR = 0.6, 95% CI 0.5 – 0.7), the incidence of certain leukemias in men (n = 6, SIR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.2 – 7.4) and thyroid cancer in women (n = 6, SIR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.0 – 5.7) was greater. ^{[22] [23]}
• December 6, 1983 – Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. ^[24] In the Ciudad Juárez cobalt-60 contamination incident, a local resident salvaged materials from a discarded radiation therapy machine containing 6,010 pellets of ⁶⁰Co. The transport of the material led to severe contamination of his truck. When the truck was scrapped, it in turn contaminated another five tonnes of steel to an estimated 300 Ci (11 TBq) of activity. This steel was used to manufacture kitchen and restaurant table legs and rebar, some of which was shipped to the U.S. and Canada. The incident was discovered months later when a truck delivering contaminated building materials to the Los Alamos National Laboratory drove through a radiation monitoring station. Contamination was later measured on roads used to transport the original damaged radiation source. Some pellets were actually found embedded in the roadway. In the state of Sinaloa, 109 houses were condemned due to use of contaminated building material. This incident prompted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Customs Service to install radiation detection equipment at all major border crossings. ^[25]
• 1984 – Lost source accident in Morocco, a Ir-192 source was taken home by a laborer resulting in eight deaths in the 1984 Moroccan radiation accident. Either a drive cable detached from a pigtail or the connection between the pigtail and the source failed. As a result, the source was lost within an industrial site, the source was taken home by a non-radiographic worker who along with seven members of his family died. ^[26]
• 1985 to 1987 – The Therac-25 was a radiation therapy machine produced by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). It is known to be responsible for six accidents between 1985 and 1987, in which patients were given massive overdoses of radiation, which were in some cases on the order of hundreds of grays. Three patients died as a result of the overdoses. These accidents highlighted the dangers of inadequate software control of safety-critical systems.
• September 13, 1987 – In the Goiânia accident, scavengers broke open a radiation-therapy machine in an abandoned clinic in Goiânia, Brazil. They sold the kilocurie (40 TBq) caesium-137 source as a glowing curiosity. Two hundred and fifty people were contaminated; four died. ^[27]
• June 6, 1988 – Radiation Sterilizers, Inc. (now Sterigenics) in Decatur, Georgia reported a leak of ¹³⁷Cs at their facility. Seventy thousand medical supply containers and milk cartons were recalled. ^[28]
• 5 February 1989 – Three workers were exposed to gamma rays from the ⁶⁰Co source in a medical products irradiation plant in San Salvador, El Salvador. The most exposed person died; another lost two limbs. A number of safety systems at the plant had been disabled, and workers were unaware of the danger posed by the radioactive source. ^[29]
• 1989 – In the Kramatorsk radiological accident, a small capsule containing highly radioactive ¹³⁷Cs was found inside the concrete wall in an apartment building in Kramatorsk, Ukrainian SSR. It is believed that the capsule, originally contained in a measurement device, was lost sometime during the late 1970s and ended up mixed in with gravel used to construct that building in 1980. By the time the capsule was discovered, four residents of the building had died from leukemia and 17 more received varying doses of radiation. ^[30]

1990s

• June 24, 1990 – Soreq, Israel – An operator at a commercial irradiation facility bypassed safety systems to clear a jam in the product conveyor area. The one- to two-minute exposure resulted in a whole body dose estimated at 10 Gy (1,000 rad) or more. He died 36 days later despite extensive medical care. ^{[31] [32]}
• December 10–20, 1990 – a radiological accident that occurred at the Clinic of Zaragoza, in Spain. In the accident, at least 27 patients were injured, and 11 of them died, according to IAEA. All of the injured were cancer patients receiving radiotherapy. ^[33]
• October 26, 1991 – Nesvizh, Belarus – An operator at an atomic sterilization facility bypassed the safety systems to clear a jammed conveyor. Upon entering the irradiation chamber he was exposed to an estimated whole body dose of 11 Gy, with some portions of the body receiving upwards of 20 Gy. Despite prompt intensive medical care, he died 113 days after the accident. ^[34]
• June, 1992 – A Ph.D. student at the Institute for Animal Health in the UK, now the Pirbright Institute, received an approximately 2.5 Gy dose from ³²P labelled organo-phosphate as part of an experiment to label virus infected cells. The company shipping the material had supplied over 1000 times the amount and the receiving site did not have adequate monitoring facilities for source material.^{[ clarification needed ][ citation needed ]}
• November 16, 1992 – Indiana Regional Cancer Center – After treating a patient with HDR brachytherapy, personnel ignored alarms indicating high radiation levels and an available radiation survey meter was not used to confirm or rule out the area alarm's signal. A radioactive pellet of ¹⁹²Ir had broken off inside the patient during treatment. The patient was transported back to a nursing home where the catheter containing the radioactive pellet fell out four days later. The patient received a thousand times the intended dose and died several days later. ^[35]
• November 17, 1992 – Trần Đức Thiệp, the director of the Viet Nam National Centre for Scientific Research in Hanoi placed his hands into a particle accelerator to adjust a sample of gold ore. This adjustment would usually be done using compressed air, but Thiệp entered the room and adjusted the samples by hand. At the same time, his colleagues, mistakenly believing he had left the room to wash his hands with soap in a sink placed outside the containment room, switched the machine on. Thiệp was exposed to a beam current of 6 μA for between two and four minutes. Thiệp suffered severe tissue necrosis in his hands requiring specialist treatment in Paris, and ultimately had to have his right hand amputated. Thiệp lost the fourth and fifth fingers on his left hand, which subsequently suffered chronic stiffness and radiation-induced fibrosis. He returned to work at the facility in Hanoi in 1994, after more than 600 days of treatment for acute radiation injuries. ^[36]
• November 19, 1992 – A 10 Ci (370 GBq) ⁶⁰Co source (which was used for an agricultural project) was taken home by a worker from a well within a construction site which used to be part of an environmental monitoring station in Xinzhou, Shanxi (China). This resulted in three deaths and affected 100+ people. A woman was exposed to radiation while nursing her sick husband. Her dose was estimated to be 2.3 Gy by means of a blood test 41 days after the accident, 16 years after the accident the woman has been subject to premature aging which may be a result of her radiation exposure. Her then unborn child (induced at 37 weeks, birth weight 2 kilograms) got a dose of almost 2 Gy in utero, and at the age of 16 the child had an IQ of 46. ^{[37] [38] [39] [40] [41]}
• August 31, 1994 – Commerce Township, Michigan – A home-made neutron source built by 17-year-old David Hahn was discovered in his mother's back yard. The unshielded neutron source exposed his neighborhood to 1,000 times the normal levels of background radiation. ^[42]
• October 21, 1994 – Theft of radioactive material in Tammiku: a strong caesium-137 source was stolen by scrap metal scavengers in Tammiku, Männiku, Saku Parish, Estonia. The man who carried the source home received a 4,000 rad whole-body dose and died 12 days after first taking it. In addition, the man's stepson sustained radiation burn injuries to his hands after he found and touched the source after the man had placed it inside a kitchen drawer. ^[43]
• September, 1996 – San José, Costa Rica: A cobalt radiation therapy device was not properly tuned and 116 patients that were undergoing treatment were irradiated with a very high dose. ^{[44] [45]}
• May 1998 – Acerinox accident – recycler Acerinox in Cádiz, Spain, unwittingly melted scrap metal containing radioactive sources; the radioactive cloud drifted to Switzerland before being detected. ^{[27] [46]}
• December 1998 – Istanbul, Turkey – two sealed transport packages for spent ⁶⁰Co teletherapy sources from a shipment of three planned for export in 1993 were instead stored in a warehouse in Ankara, then moved to Istanbul, where a new owner sold them off as scrap metal. The buyers dismantled the containers, exposing themselves and others to ionizing radiation. Eighteen people, including seven children, were admitted to hospital. Ten of the adults developed acute radiation syndrome. One exposed ⁶⁰Co source was retrieved, but the source from the other package was still unaccounted for one year later. It is believed that the second container was empty all along, but this could not be conclusively proven from company records. ^[47]
• 1999 – A road near Mrima Hill, Kenya was rebuilt using local materials later found to be radioactive. Some workers were exposed to excessive radiation, and many residents of the area were tested for exposure. 2,975 t of roadway material were to be dug up to eliminate the hazard. ^[48]
• 1999 – Yanango, Peru – A construction worker and his family were exposed to an Ir-192 industrial radiography source after the worker picked-up the source and carried it in his back pocket for several hours. ^[49] The exposure received to his whole body was estimated to be approximately 150 Rem, and exposure to his right buttocks was 10,000 Rad.

2000s

• February 1, 2000 – Samut Prakan radiation accident: The radiation source of an expired teletherapy unit was purchased and transferred without registration, and stored in an unguarded car park in Samut Prakan, Thailand without warning signs. ^[50] It was then stolen from the car park and dismantled in a junkyard for scrap metal. Workers completely removed the ⁶⁰Co source from the lead shielding, and became ill shortly thereafter. The radioactive nature of the metal and the resulting contamination was not discovered until 18 days later. Seven injuries and three deaths resulted from this incident. ^[51]
• August 2000 to March 2001 – At the Instituto Oncologico Nacional of Panama, 28 patients receiving treatment for prostate cancer and cancer of the cervix received lethal doses of radiation due to a modification in the protocol for measuring radiation used without a verification test. The negligence, unique in its scope, was investigated by the IAT from May 26 – June 1, 2001. ^[52]
• February 2001 – A medical accelerator at the Bialystok Oncology Center in Poland malfunctioned, resulting in five female patients receiving excessive doses of radiation while undergoing breast cancer treatment. ^[53] The incident was discovered when one of the patients complained of a painful radiation burn. In response, a local technician was called in to repair the device, but was unable to do so, and in fact caused further damage. Subsequently, competent authorities were notified, but as the apparatus had been tampered with, they were unable to ascertain the exact doses of radiation received by the patients (localized doses might have been in excess of 60 Gy). No deaths were reported as a result of this incident, although all affected patients required skin grafts. The attending doctor was charged with criminal negligence, but in 2003 a district court ruled that she was not responsible for the incident. The hospital technician was fined. ^[54]
• December 2, 2001 – Lia radiological accident: In the village of Lia, Georgia three lumberjacks discovered two ⁹⁰Sr cores from Soviet radioisotope thermoelectric generators. These were of the Beta-M type, built in the 80s, with an activity of 1295 TBq each. The lumberjacks were scavenging the forest for firewood, when they came across two metal cylinders melting snow within a one-meter radius laying in the road. They picked up these objects to use as personal heaters, sleeping with their backs to them. All lumberjacks sought medical attention individually, and were treated for radiation injuries. One patient, DN-1, was seriously injured and required multiple skin grafts. After 893 days in the hospital, he was declared dead after sepsis caused by complications and infections of a radiation ulcer on the subject's back. ^[55] The disposal team consisted of 24 men who were restricted to a maximum of 40 seconds worth of exposure (max. 20mSv) each while transferring the canisters to lead-lined drums. ^[56]
• March 11, 2002 – INES Level 2 – A 2.5 tonne ⁶⁰Co gamma source was transported from Cookridge Hospital, Leeds, to Sellafield with defective shielding ^[57] at the bottom of the container. As the radiation escaped from the package downwards into the ground, it is thought that this event did not cause any injury or disease in either a human or an animal. This event was treated in a serious manner because the defense in depth type of protection for the source had been eroded. Had the container been tipped over in a road crash, people at the scene would have been exposed to 83.5 Gy/h. The company responsible for the transport of the source, AEA Technology plc, was fined £250,000 by a British court. ^{[58] [59]}
• 2003 – Cape of Navarin, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) located on the Arctic shore was discovered in a highly degraded state. The exposure rate at the generator surface was as high as 15  R/h; in July 2004 a second inspection of the same RTG showed that gamma radiation emission had risen to 87 R/h and that ⁹⁰Sr had begun to leak into the environment. ^[60] In November 2003, a completely dismantled RTG located on the island of Yuzhny Goryachinsky in the Kola Bay was found. The generator's radioactive heat source was found on the ground near the shoreline in the northern part of the island. ^[60]
• September 10, 2004 – Yakutia, Russia. Two radioisotope thermoelectric generators were dropped 50 meters onto the tundra at Zemlya Bunge island during an airlift when the helicopter flew into heavy weather. According to the nuclear regulators, the impact compromised the RTGs' external radiation shielding. At a height of 10 meters above the impact site, the intensity of gamma radiation was measured at 4  mSv/h. ^[60]
• 2005 – Dounreay, U.K. In September, the site's cementation plant was closed when 266 liters of radioactive reprocessing residues were spilled inside containment. ^{[61] [62]} In October, another of the site's reprocessing laboratories was closed down after nose-blow tests of eight workers tested positive for trace radioactivity. ^[63]
• 2005-2006 – Epinal radiotherapy accident  [ fr ]: a problem in dosimetry software caused an overdosage during radiotherapy. During this period 7500 patients were treated for prostate cancer at the Jean Monnet Hospital in Epinal, France. An investigation showed that 5 people died from radiation, 24 were severely injured, 700 were significantly overexposed, and 4500 were mildly exposed. ^[64]
• March 11, 2006 – at Fleurus, Belgium, an operator working for Sterigenics, at a medical equipment sterilization site, entered the irradiation room and remained there for 20 seconds. The room contained a source of ⁶⁰Co which was not immersed in the pool of water. ^[65] Three weeks later, the worker suffered symptoms typical of acute radiation syndrome (vomiting, loss of hair, fatigue). One estimate that he was exposed to a dose of between 4.4 and 4.8 Gy due to a malfunction of the control-command hydraulic system maintaining the radioactive source in the pool. The operator spent over one month in a specialized hospital before going back home. To protect workers, the federal nuclear control agency AFCN and private auditors from AVN recommended Sterigenics to install a redundant system of security. It is an accident of level 4 on the INES scale. ^{[66] [67] [68]}
• Teenager Lisa Norris died in 2006 after she was given an overdose of radiation as a result of human error. The overdose occurred during treatment for a brain tumor at Beatson Oncology Centre, in Glasgow, Scotland. ^{[69] [70] [71]} The Scottish Government published an independent investigation of this case. ^[72] The intended treatment for Norris was 35  Gy to be delivered by a linac machine to the whole of the central nervous system to be delivered in twenty equal fractions of 1.75 Gy, which was to be followed by 19.8 Gy to be delivered to the tumor only (in eleven fractions of 1.8 Gy). In the first phase of the treatment a 58% overdose occurred, and Norris's CNS suffered a dose of 55.5 Gy. The second phase of the treatment was abandoned on medical advice, and Norris survived for some time after the overdose.
• January 23, 2008 – A licensed radiology technologist, Raven Knickerbocker, at Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, California performed 151 CT scan slices on a single 3 mm level on the head of a 23-month-old child over a 65-minute period. The child suffered radiation burns (skin erythema) to a small strip of his face and head. In one report, an independent investigation of the child's blood was said to have found "substantial chromosomal damage" ^[73] but subsequent reports reported no lasting harm. ^[74] The technologist was fired, and her license was permanently revoked on March 16, 2011, by the state of California, citing "gross negligence". ^[73] The hospital's radiology manager, Bruce Fleck, testified that Knickerbocker's conduct was "a rogue act of insanity".
• August 23–24, 2008 – INES Level 3 – Fleurus, Belgium – Nuclear material leak. A gaseous leak of a radioisotope of iodine, ¹³¹I, was detected at a large medical radioisotope laboratory, Institut national des Radio-Eléments. Belgian authorities implemented restrictions on use of local farming produce within 5 km of the leak, when higher-than-expected levels of contamination was detected in local grass. The particular isotope of iodine has a half-life of 8 days. ^{[75] [76]} The European Commission sent out a warning over their ECURIE-alert system on 29 August. ^[77] The quantity of radioactivity released into the environment was estimated at 45 GBq ¹³¹I, which corresponds to a dose of 160 μSv (effective dose) for a hypothetical person remaining permanently at the site's enclosure. ^[78]
• February 2008 to August 2009 – A software misconfiguration in a CT scanner used for brain perfusion scanning at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, resulted in 206 patients receiving radiation doses approximately 8 times higher than intended during an 18-month period starting in February 2008. Some patients reported temporary hair loss and erythema. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has estimated that patients received doses between 3 Gy and 4 Gy. ^[79]

2010s

• April 2010 – INES level 4 – A 35-year-old man was hospitalized in New Delhi after handling radioactive scrap metal. Investigation led to the discovery of an amount of scrap metal containing ⁶⁰Co in the Delhi's industrial district of Mayapuri. The 35-year-old man later died from his injuries, while six others remained hospitalized. ^{[80] [81]} The radioactivity was from a gammacell 220 research source which was incorrectly disposed of by sale as scrap metal. ^[82] The gammacell 220 was originally made by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited whose gamma irradiation work is now under the name of Nordion. Nordion does not offer servicing for gammacell 220 machines but can arrange for, in theory, safe disposal of unwanted units. ^[83] A year later, Delhi Police charged six DU professors from the Chemistry Department for negligent disposal of the radioactive device. ^[84]
• July 2010 – During a routine inspection at the Port of Genoa, on Italy's northwest coast, a cargo container from Saudi Arabia containing nearly 23,000 kg of scrap copper was detected to be emitting gamma radiation at a rate of around 500 mSv/h. After quarantining the container for over a year on Port grounds, Italian officials dissected it using robots and discovered a rod of ⁶⁰Co 23 cm long and 0.8 cm in diameter intermingled with the scrap. Officials suspected its provenance to be inappropriately disposed-of medical or food-processing equipment. The rod was sent to Germany for further analysis, after which it was likely to be recycled. ^[85]
• August 2010 – A Cesium-137 radioactive source was fortuitously discovered beneath the asphalt of Stargarder Straße in Prenzlauer Berg, Germany, where it had probably been for the past 20 years. The site was dug up, and the source transferred to the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. ^[86]
• October 2011 – At a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, a 7-year-old girl was treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia with whole brain radiation. The prescriptions were done manually in a form with no formal peer review process. Because of an error in the registration of the number of sessions, she received the full dose in each session of radiotherapy. Even with early toxicity, the doctor refused to assess the patient, because some of the complaints were usual. The full treatment was finished in about 8 sessions and the girl was admitted with radiation burns. She developed frontal lobe necrosis and died in June 2012. After an investigation, the physicist, technician, and physician were charged with manslaughter. ^[87]
• May 2013 – J-PARC radioactive isotope leakage accident. On 23 May 2013, accidental leakage of radioactive isotopes occurred in the high-intensity proton accelerator facility, one of the nuclear research facilities in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki Prefecture. In addition to the diffusion of radioactive isotopes due to the malfunction of equipment, the response to the accident was mishandled, with 33 out of 55 personnel who were on site at the time exposed. A small amount of radioactive isotope leaked outside the controlled area as well. This incident was tentatively evaluated as an International Nuclear Event Scale Level 1 event by the Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Commission.^{[ citation needed ]}
• May 2013 – A batch of metal-studded belts sold by online retailer ASOS.com were confiscated and held in a U.S. radioactive storage facility after testing positive for ⁶⁰Co. ^[88]
• December 2013 – A truck transporting a 111 TBq ⁶⁰Co teletherapy source from a Tijuana hospital to a waste storage facility was hijacked near Mexico City. ^[89] This triggered a nationwide search by Mexican authorities. The truck was found a day later near Hueypoxtla, where it was discovered that the source had been removed from its shielding. The source was found shortly after in a nearby field, where it was safely recovered. ^[90] The thieves could have received a fatal dose of radiation. ^{[90] [91]}
• August 2018 – A 23 kg radioactive source used for industrial radiography (detecting defects in metal weldments) went missing from the back of a pickup truck during transportation in Malaysia. It contains ¹⁹²Ir and was reported missing on August 10. This is not the first time such an incident happened. ^[92]

2020s

• February 2020 – Caesium-137 contamination in Serpong, Indonesia. Radioactive contamination was found on empty land close to a residential building, with estimated dose exposure about 148 mSv/h. ^[93] Depleted uranium and an empty cylinder was also found in two houses in the same neighborhood. The owner was known to be a retired BATAN (National Nuclear Energy Agency of Indonesia) employee. ^[94] Decontamination procedure was done by removing 87 drums of radioactive soil, and cutting trees and grass. ^[95] A measurable Caesium-137 trace was detected on two residents, at 0,12 mSv and 0,5 mSv each. ^[96]
• May 2021 – In Mumbai, Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad arrested two people on 5 May with 7.1 kg of natural uranium estimated worth ₹21.3 crore (US$2.6 million). It was unclear how they acquired the material. The National Investigation Agency later took over the case. ^[97]
• January 2023 – Western Australian radioactive capsule incident: between 10 January 2023 and 16 January 2023, a radioactive capsule containing a 19 giga becquerel caesium-137 ^[98] ceramic source ^[99] went missing from a truck on which it was being transported across Western Australia. On 27 January 2023, members of the public were warned to observe a safe distance of five metres if they found the capsule, and drivers who had recently used the Great Northern Highway were asked to check their vehicle tyres in case it was lodged in the tread. ^[100] It was located on 1 February 2023. ^[101]

See also

• Background radiation
• International Nuclear Event Scale
• List of civilian nuclear accidents
• List of military nuclear accidents
• List of nuclear reactors
• List of nuclear whistleblowers
• Lists of disasters
• Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
• Nuclear power debate
• Nuclear power
• Nuclear reactor
• Radiation
• X-ray

References

1. "New Symbol Launched to Warn Public About Radiation Dangers". 15 February 2007. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
2. Rollyson, Carl (2004). Marie Curie: Honesty In Science. iUniverse, prologue, x. ISBN   0-595-34059-8
3. Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, p. 148.
4. "Marie Curie's Notebooks". www.acsh.org. American Council on Science and Health. 3 January 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
5. Denver Radium Streets Program denvergov.org^{[ dead link ‍]}
6. "Eben M. Byers: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Amateur Golf, Modern Medicine and the FDA" (PDF). Allegheny Cemetery Heritage. Fall 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
7. Mark Harrington, "Sad Memories of '56 Sylvania Explosion", New York Newsday , August 17, 2003, archived at the Wayback Machine, February 4, 2012.
8. Nénot, Jean-Claude (18 January 2009). "Radiation accidents over the last 60 years" (PDF). Journal of Radiological Protection. 2009 (29): 301–320. doi:10.1088/0952-4746/29/3/R01. PMID   19690364. S2CID   4309369 . Retrieved 6 January 2021.
9. "UK | Dounreay: 'Waste dump for the world'". BBC News. 1998-04-22. Archived from the original on 2015-11-06. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
10. "If You Stuck Your Head in a Particle Accelerator ..." Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
11. Harvey Wasserman & Norman Solomon Killing Our Own (Chapter 9 – Uranium Milling and the Church Rock Disaster) Archived 2019-06-15 at the Wayback Machine A Delta Book, 1982
12. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight Government Reform. (2008). The health and environmental impacts of uranium contamination in the Navajo Nation: Hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, first session, October 23, 2007. Washington: U.S. G.P.O.: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O.
13. Thomas E. McKone and Kevin Brand Environmental Health-Risk Assessment for Tritium Releases at the NTLF at LBNL (Questions and Answers About Tritium) Archived 2008-02-29 at the Wayback Machine Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, April 1997
14. Let the Facts Speak 1975–1979 Archived 2017-06-22 at the Wayback Machine prop1.org
15. Harvey Wasserman & Norman Solomon Killing Our Own (Chapter 10) Archived 2019-03-28 at the Wayback Machine A Delta Book, 1982
16. Possible Leakage of Tubes of Tritium Gas Used in Timepieces for Luminosity Archived 2017-08-09 at the Wayback Machine United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, September 5, 1979
17. "AROUND THE NATION; Radiation Poisoning Kills A Former Radiographer". New York Times. July 30, 1981. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
18. David Lochbaum Everything You Know Is Wrong The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies Archived 2005-08-30 at the Wayback Machine The Disinformation Company, May 18, 2002 ISBN   0-9713942-0-2 (NRC Region 1 augmented inspection team (AIT) inspection report# (50-220/89-90) of the use of the Radwaste building sub-basement as a long term liquid retention facility at Nine Mile Point unit 1.)
19. Hwang, JY; B. H. Chang, Joseph; P. Chang, Wushou (2002). "Spread of Co-60 contaminated steel and its legal consequences in Taiwan". Health Physics .
20. Chiu Yu-Tzu (Apr 29, 2001). "Radioactive rebar linked to cancer". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
21. Chen, W.L.; Luan, Y.C.; Shieh, M.C.; Chen, S.T.; Kung, H.T.; Soong, K.L; Yeh, Y.C.; Chou, T.S.; Wu, J.T.; Sun, C.P.; Deng, W.P.; Wu, M.F.; Shen, M.L. (2004). "Effects of Cobalt-60 Exposure on Health of Taiwan Residents Suggest New Approach Needed in Radiation Protection" (PDF). Dose-Response. 5 (1): 63–75. doi:10.2203/dose-response.06-105.Chen. PMC   2477708 . PMID   18648557. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2011-03-20. (ecolo.org and authors of the paper are not associated with one another.)
22. Hwang, S-L; H-R Guo; W-A Hsieh; J-S Hwang; S-D Lee; J-L Tang; C-C Chen; T-C Chang; J-D Wang; W P Chang (December 2006). "Cancer risks in a population with prolonged low dose-rate gamma-radiation exposure in radiocontaminated buildings, 1983-2002". International Journal of Radiation Biology. 82 (12): 849–58. doi:10.1080/09553000601085980. PMID   17178625. S2CID   20545464.
23. Hwang, S-L; J-S Hwang; Y-T Yang; W A Hsieh; T-C Chang; H-R Guo; M-H Tsai; J-L Tang; I-F Lin; W P Chang (2008). "Estimates of Relative Risks for Cancers in a Population after Prolonged Low-Dose-Rate Radiation Exposure: A Follow-up Assessment from 1983 to 2005" (PDF). Radiation Research. 170 (2): 143–148. Bibcode:2008RadR..170..143H. doi:10.1667/RR0732.1. PMID   18666807. S2CID   41512364.
24. Sandra Blakeslee (1984-05-01). "Nuclear Spill At Juarez Looms As One of Worst". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-02-08. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
25. "El Cobalto". Window on State Government. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. July 1998. Archived from the original on 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2005-11-27.
26. "Information Notice No. 85-57: Lost Iridium-192 Source Resulting in the Death of Eight Persons in M".
27. Llumá, Diego (May–June 2000). "Former Soviet Union: What the Russians left behind". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists . 56 (3): 14–17. doi:10.2968/056003005. S2CID   145248534. Archived from the original on 2002-11-12.
28. "Leakage of an irradiator source: The June 1988 Georgia RSI (Radiation Sterilizers, Inc. ) incident". 1990-02-01. doi:10.2172/7147975. OSTI   7147975.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
29. The Radiological Accident in San Salvador (PDF) (Report). IAEA. 1990. ISBN   92-0-129090-X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
30. "Security and Nonproliferation, Kyiv, 2005" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
31. Strom, Daniel J.; Watson, C.R. (1999-10-25), "Fool Irradiation: A Potential Unwanted Byproduct of Food Irradiation? (rev. 2/17/99)" (PDF), Quantitative Evaluation of Contamination Consequences, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-11
32. The Radiological Accident of Soreq (PDF) (Report). IAEA. 1993. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
33. "Zaragoza radiotherapy accident, 1990". www.johnstonsarchive.net. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
34. The Radiological Accident at the Irradiation Facility in Nesvizh (PDF) (Report). IAEA. December 1996. ISBN   92-0-101396-5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
35. "Accident Prevention". IAEA. 2001-06-01. Archived from the original on 2014-07-18. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
36. "AN ELECTRON ACCELERATOR ACCIDENT IN HANOI, VIET NAM" (PDF). International Atomic Energy Agency. 1996. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
37. Wm. Robert Johnston (26 October 2008). "Jilin orphaned source, 1992". Johnston's Archive. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
38. Zhang, Zhao-hui; Liang, Li; Zhang, Shu-lan; Jia, Ting-zhen; Liu, Qing-jie; Ma, Li-wen; Su, Xu; Liu, Ying; Chen, Sen; Qing, Bin; Cao, Bao-Shan; Xiao, Yu; Ying, Wen-chen; Zhang, Yu; Wang, Wen-xue; Wang, Zuo-yuan (2011). "Follow-up study of a pregnant woman 16 years after exposure in the Xinzhou radiation accident". Journal of Radiological Protection. 31 (4): 489–494. doi:10.1088/0952-4746/31/4/N01. ISSN   0952-4746. PMID   22089365. S2CID   29297615.
39. Liang, Li; Zhang, Zhao-hui; Chen, Sen; Ma, Li-wen; Chen, Ya-mai; Zhang, Shu-luan; Jia, Ting-zhen; Liu, Ying; Liu, Qing-jie; Su, Xu; Qin, Bin; Wang, Zuo-yuan (2011). "Clinical observation of a 16-year-old female exposed to radiationin utero: follow-up after the Shanxi Xinzhou radiation accident". Journal of Radiological Protection. 31 (4): 495–498. doi:10.1088/0952-4746/31/4/N02. ISSN   0952-4746. PMID   22089422. S2CID   30871088.
40. Cui Zheng (April 6, 2011). "In Shanxi, lasting pain". chinadialogue. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
41. 崔筝 (March 28, 2011). "辐射摧残忻州少女 放射源事故堪比核泄露". Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
42. Ken Silverstein The radioactive boy scout: When a teenager attempts to build a breeder reactor Archived 2019-03-28 at the Wayback Machine Harper's Magazine, November 1998
43. The Radiological Accident in Tammiku (PDF) (Report). IAEA. 1998. ISBN   92-0-100698-5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
44. "Consternación por la tragedia con cobalto" (in Spanish). 1996. Archived from the original on 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
45. "Sobreirradiados conciliaron con fabricante de bomba de cobalto" (in Spanish). 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
46. Radioactive Scrap Metal Archived March 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Nuclear Free Local Authorities
47. The radiological accident in Istanbul (PDF) (Report). Vienna: IAEA. 2000. ISBN   92-0-101400-7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
48. "World: Africa Kenyan 'radioactive road' scare". BBC News . 1999-10-24. Archived from the original on 2015-01-11. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
49. "The Radiological Accident in Yanango". www.iaea.org. 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
50. Bangkok Post, 2009^[ dead link ‍]
51. The Radiological Accident at Samut Prakarn (PDF) (Report). IAEA. 2002. ISBN   92-0-110902-4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-07-27. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
52. Investigation of an accidental Exposure of radiotherapy patients in Panama (PDF) (Report). IAEA. 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-07-30. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
53. Accidental Overexposure of Radiotherapy Patients in Białystok (PDF) (Report). IAEA. 2004. ISBN   92-0-114203-X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
54. "Wyrok w sprawie poparzenia pacjentek" (in Polish). 2003. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
55. The radiological accident in Lia, Georgia (PDF) (Report). IAEA. 2014. ISBN   978-92-0-103614-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-07-12. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
56. The radiological accident in Lia, Georgia. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency. 2014. ISBN   978-92-0-103614-8. OCLC   900016880.
57. "The day a lorry leaked radioactive waste across Yorkshire during 130-mile trip". 5 June 2019.
58. Booth, Robert (18 February 2006). "Disposal firm's blunder led to radiation leak". The Guardian.
59. "Transport case prompts HSE reminder on the importance of radiation protection controls." Archived January 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Health and Safety Executive. 20 February 2006.
60. "Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators – Bellona". Bellona. 2005-04-02. Archived from the original on 2006-06-13. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
61. "UK | Scotland | Dounreay hit by radioactive spill". BBC News. 2005-09-26. Archived from the original on 2006-05-30. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
62. Archived December 19, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
63. "UK | Scotland | Fresh safety alert at Dounreay". BBC News. 2005-10-17. Archived from the original on 2006-03-09. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
64. "À Épinal, 5 500 personnes ont été victimes de surirradiation". Le Figaro. 2008-04-12. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
65. "Employee Accident at Sterigenics' Fleurus, Belgium Facility" (Press release). Archived from the original on September 3, 2006. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
66. "Fleurus irradiator accident, 2006". Johnston's Archive. 2011-11-19. Archived from the original on 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
67. "Fanc - Afcn". Archived from the original on February 20, 2007. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
68. Archived January 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
69. "Apology for radiation error girl". BBC News. 2006-02-08. Archived from the original on 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
70. Kirsty Scott (2006-10-20). "Teenage cancer patient dies after radiation blunder | Society". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
71. "Teen Girl dies from Overdose of Radiation in the Hospital". Health Jockey. 2006-10-19. Archived from the original on 2011-09-10. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
72. "Unintended overexposure of patient Lisa Norris during radiotherapy treatment at the Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow in January 2006" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
73. Domino, Donna (2008-11-10). "Two-second CT scan turns into 65-minute ordeal for toddler". UBM Medica. Archived from the original on 2018-08-26. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
74. Bogdanich, Walt (15 October 2009). "Radiation Overdoses Point Up Dangers of CT Scans". New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
75. "AFP: Belgium reduces safety zone near nuclear iodine leak site". AFP. 2008-08-30. Archived from the original on 2013-06-05. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
76. "Reuters.com | Africa". Reuters. 2009-02-09. Archived from the original on 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
77. "ECURIE ALERT: Belgian nuclear authorities alert the Commission about measures taken after releases of radioactive iodine". Communication department of the European Commission. 2008-08-29. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
78. IAEA NEWS database: Iodine-131 release in the environment Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
79. Safety Investigation of CT Brain Perfusion Scans: Initial Notification: Archived 2017-01-18 at the Wayback Machine
80. Yardley, Jim (27 April 2010). "Indian Man Dies After Radiation Exposure". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
81. Yardley, Jim (23 April 2010). "Scrap Metal Radiation Raises Concerns in India". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
82. "Origin of Cobalt-60 traced to Delhi University – Times of India". The Times of India . 28 April 2010. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
83. "Nordion - Discontinued Gamma Sterilization Products; Gammacell 220, Theratron, Agiris". Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2014-01-05.
84. "Six DU professors charged in Mayapuri radiation case". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2020-11-22.
85. Curry, Andrew (2011-10-21). "Why Is This Cargo Container Emitting So Much Radiation?". Wired. Vol. 19, no. 11. Archived from the original on 2011-11-06. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
86. "Police investigate radioactive waste found under Berlin street". The Local Germany. 10 August 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
87. "Hospital Apura Morte de Menina Queimada em Radioterapia no Rio". Globo.com. 2 Jun 2012. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-05.
88. "Asos Belts Seized Over Radioactive Studs". Sky News. 28 May 2013. Archived from the original on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
89. "Mexico Informs IAEA of Theft of Dangerous Radioactive Source". IAEA. 2013-12-03. Archived from the original on 2015-01-31. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
90. "Mexico Says Stolen Radioactive Source Found in Field". IAEA. 2013-12-05. Archived from the original on 2015-01-31. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
91. Will Grant (2013-12-05). "BBC News – Mexico radioactive material found, thieves' lives 'in danger'". BBC. Archived from the original on 2013-12-05. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
92. "Not first time radioactive device has gone missing: Malaysia police chief". Channel News Asia. 2018-08-21. Archived from the original on 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
93. Setiawan, B.; Iskandar, D.; Nurliati, G.; Sriwahyuni, H.; Mirawaty, M.; Artiani, P. A.; Heriyanto, K.; Ekaningrum, N. E.; Purwanto, Y.; Sumarbagiono, S. (2021-04-22). "Proposed Managements of 137Cs Contaminated Soil: Case Study in South Tangerang City". Atom Indonesia. 47 (1): 65–76. doi: 10.17146/aij.2021.1055 . ISSN   0126-1568. S2CID   236631150.
94. "Indonesian Police: Radioactive Waste Traced to Ex-Nuclear Agency Employee". Benar News. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
95. "Radioactive Clean-Up Continues in Serpong". Jakarta Globe. 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
96. Indonesia, C. N. N. "Fakta Radioaktif Cesium-137 yang Kontaminasi 2 Warga Tangsel". teknologi (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2022-09-01.
97. Kaur Sandhu, Kamaljit (2021-05-09). "NIA takes over probe into seizure of 7 kg uranium worth Rs 21 crore in Mumbai". India Today. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
98. Hastie, Hamish (27 January 2023). "WA health risk as tiny amount of radioactive substance lost in transit". WAtoday. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
99. Bunch, Aaron (28 January 2023). "Lost radioactive capsule from Rio Tinto". Australian Associated Press. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
100. Guardian Staff (2023-01-27). "Missing radioactive capsule sparks urgent health alert in Western Australia". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
101. Guardian Staff (2023-02-01). "Tiny radioactive capsule lost in Australian outback found by side of 1,400km stretch of road". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-02-01.

External links

• Schema-root.org: Nuclear Power Accidents 2 topics, both with a current news feed
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) website with search function and electronic public reading room
• International Atomic Energy Agency website with extensive online library
• Canada's Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)
• Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety Detailed articles on nuclear watchdog activities in the US
• Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety Information on radiation units and doses
• Radiological Incidents Database Extensive, well-referenced list of radiological incidents.
• Civilian nuclear incidents in the UK since 2001