New Delhi: The Department of Atomic Energy has confirmed that all the missing Cobalt 60 from Delhi University (DU) has been recovered. Sixteen pencils containing the radioactive material have been located and have been safely moved to the Narora Atomic Power Station. (
Read & Watch: Radiation leak source traced to Delhi University Chemistry lab)
Last month, one person died and seven others were hospitalized in critical condition after being exposed to Cobalt 60, a highly radioactive material in Mayapuri, a West Delhi scrap market. (Read:
One patient dies in Delhi due to radiation exposure) |
(How to handle the radioactive Cobalt 60)Scrap dealers had bought a Gamma Irradiator machine from Delhi University's Chemistry department, which decided to auction the machine because it had not been used for 40 years. The machine contained Cobalt 60 pencils. When the scrap dealers broke open the machine's lead cover, they were exposed to radiation. (
Read: What is Gamma Irradiator?)
The crisis has been one of India's worst ever radiation leaks, and Delhi University faces severe punishment for violating basic safety rules in the disposal of radioactive material.
Because many pencils from the machine were missing till this morning, the fear was that Delhi was still vulnerable. Of the 16 pencils recovered, five were found in Mayapuri, some of them in small pieces. The others were located outside Delhi.