Overview of Industrial Radiography Sources and

Accidents

IAEA Day 5 – Lecture 3

International Atomic Energy Agency
 Objectives

To understand:-

• the applications of industrial radiography

• the potential for accidents during the use of industrial

radiography radiation sources.

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 Contents

• The beneficial uses of ionizing radiation as used in

industrial radiography practices
• The potential harmful effects due to the lack of and/or
effectiveness of an adequate and appropriate radiation
safety program
• The consequences of radiological accidents

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 What is Industrial Radiography?

Industrial radiography is:-

• a process of non-destructive testing for examining the
quality of a component or product;

 most often utilized for quality control of

metal fabrication for the oil/gas industry;
 also used to test a range of other
products.

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 Imaging Principles

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Overview of Industrial Radiography Equipment

Knowledge is required of:-

 the devices that use ionizing radiation from radiation
sources (radioactive substances and x-ray devices) for
industrial radiography;

• the types of radionuclides and activities used;

• work environments, that may range from clean laboratories
to fabrication workshops and mining environments;
• equipment design and the work procedures that are
essential to protect both the radiation worker and the public.

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 History

Roentgen discovers
x-rays in 1895
Early x-ray tubes
were unreliable
Vacuum x-ray tube
and heated filament
(Coolidge-1913)
200kVp achieved in
1922

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 History (cont)

 1930s and 1940s 226Ra was used.

 60Co and 192Ir after World War II

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Types of Industrial Radiography Equipment

Common Uncommon
•gamma source projectors •betatron
•directional x-ray •linear accelerator
•panoramic x-ray •neutron radiography
•x-ray crawlers •torch devices
•gamma crawlers •fluoroscopy
•crawler control sources

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 X-ray Equipment

Has three main components:-

 x-ray tube assembly;
 x-ray control panel;
 high tension (HT) cables.

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 Betatron

Special Considerations
 survey meters with appropriate response
 operator training
 shielding

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 Gamma crawler equipment

Special applications
 on-shore pipelines
 off-shore pipelines (on a
barge)
 remotely controlled with a
separate ‘control’ source,
typically 137Cs.

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Radioactive Sources and some properties

Half Value Layer (cms) Tenth Value Layer (cms)

Isotope
Lead Iron Concrete Lead Iron Concrete
192
Ir 0.6 1.3 4.6 2.0 4.3 14.7
60
Co 1.2 2.0 6.6 4.0 6.9 20.6
169
Yb 0.26 0.95 0.29 1.8
75
Se 0.11 0.8 3.0 0.475 2.75 9.0

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 Projector-type radiography equipment

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 Source containers

Source containers must

comply with recognized
standards to ensure that
exposures to users and the
public are kept As Low As
Reasonable Achievable.

The shielding of source containers must

remain intact following any credible accident
or incident. The shielding of this container
(right) remained intact following a severe fire
at the licensed premises.

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 Fluoroscopy

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 Industrial Radiography Accidents

• 48 industrial radiography accidents1 were reported to the US

Nuclear Regulatory Commission between 1971 and1980.
• Severe injuries and a number of deaths have since been
reported and investigated.

1
involving doses greater than 50 mGy to the whole body or 750 mGy
to a part of the body. (Ref: NUREG/BR-0024). Many accidents
may go unreported because those responsible fear the legal
consequences.
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Industrial Radiography Accidents (cont)

•IAEA Safety Report Lessons

Learned from Accidents in
Industrial Radiography. Series
No.7:-
• 43 cases; 9 involving the public
or other non-radiation workers.

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Industrial Radiography Accidents (cont)

Day 15
Severe injuries to a non-radiation
worker resulting from the radiography
worker failing to use a survey meter
to confirm the source had been
returned to the shielded container.

 185 GBq 192Ir in shirt pocket for

90 minutes
 estimated skin dose of 30 Gy;
whole body as 2-5 Gy
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Industrial Radiography Accidents (cont)

Poor source security

leading to severe
injuries and death

Cs industrial
137

radiography source;
Argentina 1968

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Industrial Radiography Accidents (cont)

Poor source security leading to

severe injuries and death
Doses
 17000 Gy (localized)
 1 - 8 Gy (internal organs)
 0.6 Gy (head)

Cs industrial
137

radiography source;
Argentina 1968
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Industrial Radiography Accidents (cont)

Yanango, Peru 1999

1.37 TBq 192Ir.

2 days after accident;
blister on upper thigh.

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 Industrial Radiography Accidents (cont)

Source not properly secured. Loss not apparent for 6 hours.

Skin dose at 1cm estimated at 10 kGy; right leg amputated.

The worker’s wife and two children were also exposed.
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 Consequences of Accidents

• Severe deterministic effects

 death, loss of limbs, erythema

 Increased stochastic risk

 fatal cancer
 Environmental contamination
 Social & economic consequences

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 Causes of Accidents

•Causes identified as contributing to accidents:

 Lack of or inadequate regulatory framework

 authorization
 inspection
 enforcement
 Lack of or inadequate safety culture
 management
 quality control
 training and qualifications of workers

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 Causes of Accidents (cont)

Regulatory control
Failure to use lacking or
survey meter inadequate

Equipment ACCIDENT Inadequate or

failure lack of training

Safety procedures Lack of safety

not followed program
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 Causes of Accidents (cont)

Regulatory control
lacking or
inadequate

ACCIDENT
The Regulatory Authority has inadequate:-
 authorization processes;
 field inspections;
 inspection follow up.
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 Causes of Accidents (cont)

ACCIDENT Inadequate or
lack of training

Lack of training (and ongoing training) results in:-

 unqualified and poorly instructed workers;
 poor or no understanding of emergency procedures

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 Causes of Accidents (cont)

ACCIDENT

No safety program
 inadequate management Lack of safety
 lack of safety culture program

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 Causes of Accidents (cont)

Safety procedures not followed indicates:-

 lack of safety culture
 inadequate supervision
 lack of training ACCIDENT

Safety procedures
not followed
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 Causes of Accidents (cont)

Equipment ACCIDENT
failure

Equipment failure indicates:-

 lack of manufacturer’s recommended maintenance;
 poor use of equipment;
 equipment being used beyond design limits

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 Causes of Accidents (cont)

Failure to use
survey meter

Failure to use survey meter indicates- ACCIDENT

 insufficient and/or non-functioning meters;
 inadequate user safety training;
 hurrying to complete the work (employer pressure);
 lack of safety culture.
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 Safe use of Radiation Sources

Radiation Sources:
 are widely used;
 provide substantial benefits; but
 can cause harmful effects (injury or death).

Safe operation requires:

}
 training;
• maintenance; SAFETY CULTURE
• control.

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Safe use of Radiation Sources (cont)

the
RISKS
BENEFITS
should outweigh

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 References

• IAEA, International Basic Safety Standards for Protection against

Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources, Safety Series
No. 115, Vienna (1996).
• IAEA, Organization and Implementation of a National Regulatory
Infrastructure Governing Protection against Ionizing Radiation and the
Safety of Radiation Sources, IAEA-TECDOC-1067, Vienna (1999).
• IAEA, Lessons learned from accidents in industrial radiography, (reports
in) Safety Reports Series.
• IAEA, Accident reports.

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 Exercise

•Consider the following industrial radiography equipment;

portable x-ray; fixed x-ray; fixed gamma; portable gamma.
 Which has the greatest potential to cause serious harm
to the user and to the public?

 Why?

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