[ad_1]
On August 21, employees at the Mørkvedmarka research station at the Nord University of Bodø made a disturbing discovery.
Three yellow boxes with a total of 12 kilos of radioactive waste were missing without a trace.
That same day, the Faculty of Life Sciences and Aquaculture warned the Directorate of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety that the boxes could not be counted.
In the letter to the management, the faculty explains what happened:
A week earlier, a man dressed in work clothes had come to the research station and said he was going to collect hazardous waste.
Inside the research station, both radioactive waste and other hazardous waste are stored in yellow boxes. According to the notification to the management, the radioactive waste should have been well marked.
A station employee had him locked up. Thereafter, the person received the radioactive waste due to a “mistake” or “misunderstanding”.
According to the letter to management, the employee must have informed the man in work clothes that the waste was radioactive. Anyway, he had taken it with him.
It is in those yellow boxes that hazardous waste is stored.
Photo: Hans Thomas Eikrem / NRK
Beat the alarm
On August 21 an alarm sounded. Who had collected the waste and where was it?
The research station contacted the Retura Iris waste company, which normally collects waste at the station.
They claimed that they had not collected hazardous waste at the research station on the day in question.
Then they called the waste company Østbø, Børstad Transport and Eiendomsdrift at the university, which are the ones who order the collection.
It was also checked with the Senja waste company and the Department of Energy Technology if it had received anything from the research station in the last week.
But no one knew where the radioactive waste had gone.
Get reported
Hazardous waste can cause damage to the environment, people and animals. Therefore, waste producers and recipients are required to declare hazardous and radioactive waste.
The statement provides authorities with an overview of how much hazardous waste exists, where it was produced, and who cared for it.
In the letter to the Radiological Protection Directorate, the waste from the Mørkvedmarka research station was not declared.
However, the radiation protection coordinator at the research station had information about the waste:
- Radioactive waste: 3042-2 (Halogen-free organic solvents, not subject to disposal
- Dangerous residues: 7042 Halogen-free organic solvents
- Isotope: tritium Total activity: BQ 0.002
- Total amount in kilos: 12 kilos
- Hazardous Chemical: Scintillation fluid
– Some have received a lesson
Andreas Førde, Head of Communications, says that radioactive substances in small amounts are used in research. – They investigate everything from algae, fish, fish feed and everything that has to do with the sea.
Photo: Nord University
According to the Nord University, the waste of lost risk is due to clutter and misunderstandings.
– The collection of waste was not agreed on August 6. The communication failure occurred at the time of collection. Therefore, the substance was also not declared, says communications manager Andreas Førde at Nord University.
Waste that cannot be accounted for must be reported to the authorities.
After the letter was sent to the management, the university managed to solve the mystery on its own. Førde explains that the university, after a detective job in the waste, was picked up by Retura Iris.
The waste was subsequently properly destroyed in an incinerator, according to Førde.
– This is a good example of how important it is to have good communication about the collection of radioactive waste. We have an advanced operation, and sometimes things like that happen. Here someone has received a lesson.
The Management: – Follow-up
Nina Bratteteig is a senior advisor in the nuclear safety and contamination section of the Directorate of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety.
Photo: NMBU
It was the Senior Advisor Nina Bratteteig of the Directorate of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, who received the notification from Nord University.
It states that the regulations for the disposal of radioactive waste are strict, precisely to have control.
– We are pleased that the university reported. We were also given a quick overview and were informed that this applied at low concentrations of radioactivity, for which there was no particular risk. And that the misunderstanding had occurred in relation to the holidays.
Now the routines of the university will be tracked.
– Our follow-up will be that the company must go through its routines to ensure that it does not happen again.
– What could have happened if unauthorized persons had dealt with this radioactive waste?
– In this case, we weren’t worried about it, says Bratteteig.
It is not uncommon for radioactive waste to be forgotten or out of control.
– From time to time you see things appear during cleaning in old buildings, but often it is very old waste, says Brattteig.
