New Delhi, May 1: The IAEA has sought more information from India about the radioactive material mishandled by Delhi University.
An IAEA spokesperson in Vienna said the agency had become aware of the “possibility of a serious radiation emergency at Mayapuri” through
media reports on April 9. The IAEA has contacted India’s Department of Atomic Energy seeking more information and offering help.
An Atomic Energy Regulatory Board team on Saturday visited DU’s North Campus where it questioned chemistry department teachers about the unsafe disposal of radio-active waste. The team also scanned the spot where, according to a professor, 20 kg of radioactive substance was dumped. A four-member AERB team cordoned off the area behind the laboratory of the DU chemistry department and carried out a thorough scan, following which it was declared safe.
Sources added that the West Delhi police, investigating the case, is in touch with the AERB and is might take legal action on the basis of the report.
National Disaster Management Authority member B. Bhattacharya told this newspaper that Barc has been asked to carry out another exhaustive scan of the Mayapuri scrap market as the mystery of the missing Cobalt-60 pencils from a gamma ray irradiator is yet to be solved. The problem was compounded after Prof. B.K. Sharma, for whom the irradiator was bought from Canada in 1970, claimed that all the Cobalt-60 pencils were intact when he stopped carrying out experiments.
Age Correspondent
