Exposure of a worker in excess of the statutory dose limit

Print View Posted on: 19 October 2022

Event Date: 25 May 2022 Event Type: Fuel Reprocessing
Event Location: United Kingdom, Sellafield Ltd. UK INES Rating: 2 (Final)

The routine internal dosimetry monitoring programme identified an unexplained positive result for one worker.
Extensive investigation, including bioassay data analysis and a detailed review of working circumstances and facility state, concluded that the worker received an internal (effective) dose of 23.00 mSv in 2020 by inhalation of resuspended surface contamination of recently separated material.
In the United Kingdom the statutory annual (effective) dose limit is 20.00 mSv.
Additional testing found no other workers to have been affected and there was no radioactive release.

INES Rating: 2 - Incident (Final) as per 04 October 2022
Release beyond authorized limits? No
Overexposure of a member of the public? No
Overexposure of a worker? Yes
Contamination spread within the facility? No
Damage to radiological barriers (incl. fuel damage) within the facility? No
Degradation of Defence In-Depth No
Person injured physically or casualty? No
Is there a continuing problem? No

Ivaylo Evgueniev Stanev
Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR)
ivaylo.stanev@onr.gov.uk
http://www.onr.org.uk
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