Accidents involving radioactive contamination and X-ray diffraction machines

The sort of accidents that can occur with X-ray diffraction units and X-ray fluorescence analyzers are discussed. To reduce the possibility of accidents involving such equipment the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council produced a 'Code of Practice for Protection Against Ionizing Radiation Emitted from X-ray Analysis Equipment' in 1984. This Code of Practice is described. Three contamination problems that have occurred in New South Wales are reviewed. The first was the contamination of a workshop, house, garden, man, wife and dog by strontium 90 when a hole was drilled through the centre of a radiation gauge. The second, still not fully resolved, concerns several blocks of land where the soil is contaminated to varying degrees with radium 226 and radon 222. In the third, monazite, left over from mineral sand mining, had been placed at homes and under premises where ground water was a problem. It took a year to remove this material