Abstract:

On June 23, 2005, a container with radioactive material was discovered at a warehouse used by two entrepreneurs in Kherson Oblast. [1,2] The container is reportedly a device for determining the chemical composition of fuels and liquids. Experts who examined the device said it contained yttrium and strontium-90, both sources of strong beta-radiation. [2]

The district Sanitary and Epidemiological Station (SES) examined the warehouse and reported that background radiation near the device (0.1 to 0.5 meters) ranged from 313 to 50 microroentgens per hour. [1]

Should someone dismantle the device, they would be exposed to radiation exceeding the permissible level by 24 times. [2]

According to the Kherson Oblast Sanitary and Epidemiological Station (SES), each such device, if purchased legally, is strictly accounted for, and about 2,000 enterprises in the region use radiation sources in their operations. [2] The newspaper reports that the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has so far been unable to determine the origin of the container involved in this incident.

Kievskiye vedomosti newspaper claims this is the third seizure of radioactive material in the oblast since the beginning of the year. [2] In January 2005, six containers with cesium-137 were seized in Ishun village in the neighboring Crimean region. Each container could hold up to 30 g of cesium, and radiation on the containers’ surface exceeded the normal level by 380 times. [3] In June 2005, two metal cylinders, weighing 6 kg and 16 kg, and emitting gamma radiation of 1.2 milli roentgens per hour, were found in a car in Kherson. [4] The report did not specify the material involved in this incident.

Abstract Number:  20050280
Headline: Container with Strontium Seized in Ukraine
Date:  25 June 2005
Bibliography:  Integrum Techno database, Lexis-Nexis database
Orig. Src.:  Kontekst Prichernomorye Information Agency, Kievskiye Vedomosti newspaper
Material:  Waste/Scams/Contaminated Material

Sources:

[1] "Khersonskaya oblast: pribor, ilzuchayushchiy radiatsiyu, izolirovan v pgt Chaplynka" ["A Device Emitting Radiation Isolated in Chaplynka Village], Kontekst Prichernomorye Information Agency, June 25, 2005.
[2] Sergey Yankovskiy, “Strontsiy v Chaplynke” [Strontium in Chaplynka], Kievskiye vedomosti, July 7, 2005, in Integrum Techno database, http://www.integrum.ru.
[3] Natalya Yuryeva, "Tsezievaya 'zanachka' sluchayno obnaruzhena sotrudnikami militsii v odnom iz chastnykh domovladeniy" [Cesium Discovered by Chance during Police Search in a Private Household], Krymskaya pravda (Simferopol), January 26, 2005, in Integrum Techno database, http://integrum.ru.
[4] “Radioactive Materials Found in Car in Southern Ukraine,” BBC Monitoring Kiev Unit, citing UNIAN, June 6, 2005, in Lexis-Nexis, http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe.