**India’s atomic energy regulator has given a university two weeks to explain how radioactive waste, which this week killed a man, was sold as scrap.**The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) also directed Delhi University to suspend all experiments involving the use of radioactive substances.
A scrap metal worker died on Monday after dismantling an irradiation machine sold by the university.
Police say that others exposed to radiation are still critically ill.
Delhi University authorities have said they are investigating the incident, described by the AERB as a “serious violation.”
On Wednesday, police said that cobalt-60 had leaked from a machine that was being dismantled in a scrap market in the city’s Mayapuri industrial area.
Search teams have found cobalt-60 in several shops in the area.
Campus ‘waste’
Meanwhile, a teacher of chemistry at the university has told the BBC that “more than 20kg” of radioactive waste had been dumped in the campus more than 20 years ago.
“The waste was buried in front of the physics department during 1986-87. I had protested about it, but nobody listened to me,” Professor Ramesh Chandra said.
A senior official of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board said its scientists will be checking Professor Chandra’s claim, and decide on whether the campus should be checked for radiation.
Rules governing the disposal of radioactive waste say that the AERB should be informed by the organisation possessing it. The AERB then sends trained professionals to seal the waste and take it away.
“There has been a lapse [by the university in selling the waste to the scrap market]. They should have informed us. We have a strict protocol for radioactive waste disposal,” Mr Om Pal Singh said.
On Wednesday, police said the university bought the gamma irradiation machine from Canada in 1970 for use in experiments by chemistry students.
The machine, which had not been used since the mid-1980s, was sold at an auction in February.
Scientists say that although the radioactive substance in the machine had decayed, it was of high intensity.
‘Lack of safety’
Mr Singh said that may have been up to 48 cobalt-60 pencils filled with cobalt pellets in the machine. Some half a dozen pellets have been found by investigators after the incident.
“We are trying to find out how many cobalt pencils were there in the machine and if any are missing,” he said.
Police said while dismantling it, the workers peeled off its protective lead cover and in the process exposed themselves to the radioactive metal inside it.
AERB investigators also found that the cobalt pencils had “got broken and scattered” during the dismantling of the machine.
The discovery caused panic in nearby residential areas. It was initially thought that the radioactive material had come from hospital waste.
Mr Singh said that the AERB investigators had carried out a thorough check of a “large number of shops” in Delhi’s Mayapuri area after the incident and had not found any evidence of radioactivity.
Scientists say the incident highlights the lack of safety in Indian research institutes and universities.
“Laboratory safety is a major concern. Nobody knows proper disposal methods. We keep stuff like potassium cyanide in the open,” Professor Ramesh Chandra said.
India has a large workforce dedicated to dismantling scrap and experts say it is a major dumping ground for hazardous waste.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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