Chalk River Information Bulletin

(2010 February 24) The following information bulletin is in accordance with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's (AECL) ongoing commitment to voluntary public disclosure of events related to the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL).

AECL reports that during the past week, two incidents involving AECL employees and exposure to radioactive contamination have occurred.

The first occurrence involved an employee conducting maintenance activities. Upon completion of the work assignment, routine monitoring indicated the presence of contamination on both of the employee’s hands. Immediate measures were taken to reduce the contamination. Follow-up assessment confirmed that the contamination was removed.

In the second occurrence routine work was being conducted to clean equipment. A vacuum cleaner malfunctioned and spread a small amount of radioactive contamination in the immediate work area. Employees involved in the cleaning operations followed established procedures, and safely halted their activities. Follow-up assessments did not detect ongoing contamination of the employees involved.

While there was no obligation to report these two occurrences to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), the CNSC was nevertheless advised of the steps taken.

Radiation protection is a vital component of worker safety and job planning. AECL takes this matter very seriously and is taking steps to prevent the reoccurrence of these events.

AECL confirms that there was no worker, public, environmental or nuclear safety significance to this event.

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Contact:

Patrick Quinn
Manager, Site & Community Affairs
AECL, (613) 584-8500