4 Aug (NucNet): There are no indications of any release of radioactivity to the environment from an incident at an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) laboratory in Austria, the agency said yesterday.
The IAEA said pressure build-up in a small sealed sample bottle in a storage safe resulted in plutonium contamination of a storage room at about 02.30 yesterday at its Safeguards Analytical Laboratory in Seibersdorf.
“All indications are that there was no release of radioactivity to the environment. Further monitoring around the laboratory will be undertaken. No one was working in the laboratory at the time,” the IAEA said.
The laboratory’s safety system detected plutonium contamination in the storage room where the safe was and in two other rooms, which was later confirmed by a team of IAEA radiation protection experts. The laboratory is equipped with multiple safety systems, including an air-filtering system to prevent the release of radioactivity to the environment.
However, the IAEA said there would be restricted access to the affected rooms until they are decontaminated.
The IAEA said it had informed regulatory authorities in Austria about the incident and that a full investigation will be conducted.
The Seibersdorf laboratory is within the complex of the Austrian Research Centers Seibersdorf (ARC), about 35 kilometres southeast of Vienna. The laboratory routinely analyses small samples of nuclear material (uranium or plutonium) as part of the IAEA´s safeguards verification work.
