Radiation accidents on human in the nuclear installations and their medical emergency procedures, (1)

Present nuclear installations are one of the safest installations among industrial facilities, being equipped with various safety instruments. Since X-ray was discovered in 1895, however, many radiation injuries of various degrees and kinds occurred. Among dangerous nuclides often observed as radioactivity pollutions in nuclear installations, the exposure to β-ray such as 90Sr, 106Ru, 95Zr, 131I, 144Ce, etc, is considered to be serious problems. When they affect wounds or are inhaled into lungs, only symptomatic treatment is practicable at present, and usually nothing can be depended upon, but spontaneous eliminating ability. As the mass inhalation of α nuclides, especially transuranium nuclides, is quite dangerous, the treatment by lung-irrigation now under development is most effective as the emergency treatment. When trans-uranium nuclides were accidentally observed from wounds, they should be eliminated by the injection of chelating agent. (Kobatake, H.)