Experts decontaminate Mayapuri scrap market

A team of experts from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc) on Sunday started the process of decontamination of radiation hotspots in Mayapuri scrap market in west Delhi. The visit comes following the report by an international NGO that the radiation was still high in the area.
“The team began the decontamination process on Sunday afternoon,” said a spokesperson of the environment organisation Greenpeace.
The experts held a meeting late Saturday with the scrap dealers of Mayapuri where the first radiation leak was reported last month.
“The investigation has identified hotspots that has 5,000 times natural background radiation,” an official said.
“A person who stands about a metre away from a hotspot for five days is likely to receive the maximum allowed dose of radiation,” Jan Vande Putte, a Greenpeace radiation safety expert, said. He also said that at a distance of 10cm, a person needs to stand only for two hours for maximum dose.
The Greenpeace team observed that it was a matter of concern that the identified six hotspots remained despite AERB having declared the area safe.
According to experts, there were at least two places in the market where attempts were made to break the parts of the gamma irradiator containing Cobalt-60, that was auctioned as scrap by Delhi University’s chemistry department two months ago. Tiny particles of radioactive material had got mixed with the soil and nuclear experts have been engaged in clearing the area of such contaminated stuff, officials said.
Six people exposed to the radioactive Cobalt-60 are still undergoing anti-radiation treatment in a hospital.

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