Radioactive leak in Galicia: a steel company has been closed for more than 50 days after a Nuclear Safety alert

Fifty of the 120 Megasa workers, in Narón (A Coruña), have been in their homes since June 8 under an ERTE. And the 155,000 inhabitants of the Ferrolterra region, to which the town hall belongs, have followed with concern the news that comes from the Nuclear Security Center (CSN), since it was learned of the existence of a radioactive leak that has forced a stop the production of steel in the Galician steel company. The CSN calls for calm. “The event has not had any repercussions for the environment,” he said in his first statement, published a week after the leak.. More than a month has passed since then, the cleanup process still hasn't started.

Megasa Siderúrgica S. L. communicated that June 8 to the body in charge of ensuring nuclear safety the detection of the fusion of a radioactive source of Cesium-137 in an electric arc furnace, intended for the production of steel. “Immediately, the regulatory body carried out the pertinent checks through its automatic network of radiological monitoring stations, confirming that the event had no repercussions for the environment, since the radiation measurements outside the facility showed usual values,” says the council.

The incident was identified by the detection portals, when a radioactivity alarm was produced during the departure of a truck loaded with purification dust. Given this fact, the facility staff stopped the production of steel and the output of products from the facility, in order to activate the collaboration protocol on the radiological surveillance of metallic materials.. After informing the CSN, Megasa began the necessary steps for the radiological characterization of the plant and verify the degree of affectation.

Since then, the Galician steel company has stopped the production of steel and the smoke dust extraction system, while the contaminated materials are isolated and cordoned off inside the facility. At the request of the CSN, Megasa verified that no worker was affected and drew up a partial cleaning plan, already executed, and a comprehensive plan for the decontamination of the facilities, which was approved on July 17 by the plenary session of the Council, but still has not been fully executed. Last Tuesday night, production resumed in the test phase with valorization of results, with ten castings a day that are subjected to radiation analysis..

The regulator's decision allows the facility to begin managing radiologically contaminated material in compliance with safety measures. The reactivation of its industrial activity must be verified by the CSN once the pertinent tests have been carried out to ratify the absence of contamination in the production area, although the works council is optimistic about the possibility that this Monday the matter will be settled.. “The company and the Administration have acted with transparency and right now there is peace of mind, we are looking forward to a return to normality,” says Carlos Bascoy, president of the committee.

The Council maintains that the leak did not occur due to carelessness or malpractice. Sources close to the case acknowledge the difficulty of detecting this type of emitters because they normally arrive very well protected or encapsulated.. The usual thing is, therefore, that the case is revealed when the source is already melted and the radioactivity alarms go off. It is the detection arcs that make it possible to control the activity and that also in this case minimized the danger. But the time elapsed since the incident that led to the stoppage of the plant and the scarcity of official news -no specific data on the radiation index has been provided- cause misgivings in the works council and among residents of the area..

The CSN argues that there are no established radioactivity limits and that these vary from one area to another. It depends on how the terrain is composed.. If there is granite, for example, there is already natural radiation”, they point out from the Council, which urges calm and ensures that there is no risk to the population.

Cesium-137 is a radioactive isotope that is used mainly in industry and medicine, for example for the irradiation of gynecological tumors.. It is not found in nature, but is “manufactured”, for its different uses. The risk of exposure to humans depends on their quantity and activity, with a long half-life. The time it takes to reduce its activity in half amounts to 37 years.

For more than 20 years, the law has required the installation of radioactivity detection gantries at the entrances to the iron and steel industries, to prevent contaminated scrap from entering their smelting furnaces that could compromise the facilities. According to the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), exposure to large amounts of radioactive cesium is necessary for health effects to occur. If so, it can damage cells in the body or cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and bleeding.

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