Declaring the radiation-hit west Delhi locality as safe, Government on Tuesday said nuclear experts were now examining the sources of radiation to determine the origin of the scrap.
“The radiation sources recovered are being examined at Narora (Atomic Power Station) to determine their origins,” Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan told the Rajya Sabha.
Responding to a Calling Attention motion on the radiation incident, he said nuclear experts swung into action on getting information from a private hospital on April 7 about a patient suspected to be suffering from exposure to radiation.
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“Teams of radiation safety experts from BARC, AERB and Narora Atomic Power Station, were sent to Delhi with a wide range of radiation monitoring, detecting equipment and lead flask to locate, identify, recover, safely secure and dispose of radioactive sources,” he said.
He said the response team identified the radiation source as Cobalt—60 used mainly in the industry for radiography and in tele—therapy for cancer treatment.
“All the sources were safely transported in shielded flasks to Narora. The radiation sources recovered are being examined at Narora to determine their origins,” Mr. Chavan said.
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He said as a matter of abundant caution, the entire surrounding area consisting of around 800 shops was scanned by four joint teams of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
“The entire area has been certified to be free of elevated radiation fields,” Mr. Chavan said.