Contaminated worker in Rome: update

The second inspection conducted by the National Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ISIN) at SOGIN’s plutonium plant in the ‘Casaccia’ Research Centre, Rome, following an episode of internal contamination of an employee on 21 November 2024, has revealed that the substance detected in the course of examinations carried out on the worker was americium, rather than plutonium. No evidence of internal contamination was identified in other workers or the environment. Regarding the reconstruction of the incident, the internal contamination (as evidenced by the analysis of manure and urine) can be attributed to an uncommon occurrence during the removal of the inter-facial mask at the end of the undressing operations. Additionally, the findings of the laboratory examination indicate that the level of radioactive exposure experienced by the employee was approximately 6.2 millisieverts, which suggests that the annual exposure threshold of 20 millisieverts was not exceeded.