Source of ionising radiation found in a railway car loaded with scrap metal

Site with SIR or place of the event: Railway station Dimitrovgrad, Republic of Serbia

Event description:

On 31^st October 2008 the Emergency Centre of the NRA was notified that the Serbian customs office at railway station Dimitrovgrad have turned back a Bulgarian railway car loaded with scrap metal. Following the measurements an increased level of the natural gamma background has been established. The railway car has been stationed on a separate track and is under surveillance.

On 1^st November 2008 an emergency team from the NRA carried out radiation measurements on the spot. Increased values of the dose rate, about 50µSv/h have been measured on the surface of a small area on the side of the car.

The radioactive isotope Ra-226 has been identified following a spectrometric analysis.

There is no radiation risk for the population and the environment.

According to the standard procedure the railway car was transported to the scrap yard of the company owner of the metal scrap (Sholz-Bulgaria, GmbH.). On 3^th November the emergency team from the NRA and Ministry of health unloaded the car on a special platform. The source was found (see photo). The source is part of an instrument for levelling.

After that the source will be disposed as radioactive waste by the State Enterprise “Radioactive Waste”.

This is a general view of the whole leveling instrument.