Final report into 'inadvertent' transport of plutonium
An audit has been carried out to establish how a reference material containing plutonium came to be 'inadvertently' transported from the Joint Research Centre's Institute of Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) in Geel to Abingdon in England, following a request by Commission President Romano Prodi and Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin. The report established the events leading up to the shipment of 0.91g plutonium in solution prepared at the IRMM in Geel, to Abingdon via the Euratom Safeguards Directorate in Luxembourg on 2 September 1999. At no time was there a spillage of material, contamination of persons or the environment. The audit pinpointed certain weaknesses in the IRMM operating instructions and control mechanisms. Until revised regulations are in place, no shipment of nuclear materials can take place without explicit authorisation of the Director General. Immediate action to improve operating and working instructions and procedures, organisation and control mechanisms, was taken by the IRMM following the preliminary recommendations made after the first visit, in order to prevent incidents or irregularities in its operations. There is now physical separation at all times of radioactive materials, empty containers and packages ready for dispatch and a clear definition of responsibilities for each of these. New procedures, flowcharts and checklists have been defined and included in the IRMM's quality management manual, for the handling and use of empty containers and the dispatch and receipt of radioactive material. Another JRC Institute, the Institute for Transuranium Elements, will give radiation protection support until the IRMM Radiation Protection Service is reinforced. The final audit report also made the following recommendations: - Operating instructions and procedures for the Radiation Protection Service should be given priority. Clarification of its role and responsibility as the internal guardian of the proper application and implementation of all relevant radiation protection regulations is also required; - Clarification is needed on the collaboration with the external qualified control organisation to improve the effectiveness of the external audits; - The training of radiation protection officers and staff involved in processing, handling, use and transportation of radioactive material in matters of radiation protection should be formalised, in terms of initial training required and the periodicity and content of future training. The implementation of these recommendations will start immediately. The inquiry panel was be chaired by Herbert Allgeier, Director General of the EU's Joint Research Centre. Other members include Wilhelm Gmelin, Director of the Euratom Safeguards Directorate; Jacques Van Geel, Director of the Institute for Transuranium Elements, Karlsruhe; Marc Cuypers, Head of the Safeguards and Verification Unit, Institute for Systems, Informatics and Safety, Ispra; Freddy Dezeure, Head of Internal Audit Unit, JRC, Brussels, and an IEAE expert in the field of transport of radioactive materials.