Emergency workers sealed off a portion of New Delhi’s international airport yesterday after officials suspected a consignment containing radioactive material had leaked, a police officer said.
Fifteen cartons containing nuclear medicine material were isolated to investigate the suspected leak after the shipment arrived at the cargo area in an Air France plane, Sanjay Bhatia, the police chief of Delhi airport security, said.
“The consignment had come from Paris. Our staff reported a leak in the shipment and we alerted the authorities,” said Bhatia.
“The situation is under control. We have cleared the cargo area and experts from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board are examining the material.”
Soon afterwards, the airport operators confirmed on Twitter that there was “no radioactive leak at Delhi Airport. All flight operations are absolutely normal.”
Government official Abhishek Singh said an “inadvertently wrong emergency message” was conveyed about the consignment of the nuclear medicine Molybdenum-99.
“The quantity of radiation emitted from the nuclear medicine is below 1 millroentgen (measurement of radiation). There is no beta radiation in the surrounding areas and there is no leakage. Hence it cannot be termed as an emergency. A final call has thus been taken and the radiological emergency has been called off,” Singh said.
The shipment was meant for biomedical companies in New Delhi and a few other Indian cities, he said.
Meanwhile, Air France confirmed that a shipment of the radioactive material was brought on its flight from Paris to New Delhi.
“The shipment of the radioactive medical material on flight AF226 operated by an A330 from Paris to New Delhi on October 8 did not reveal any anomaly.
After several controls by the relevant authorities, including India’s independent nuclear energy authorities, at its arrival at the New Delhi airport, its acceptation has been confirmed compliant.
“The transport of this type of material is subject to strict rules and carried out in accordance with the international regulations. Air France reminds that the security of its customers and crews is its top priority,” the airline said in a statement.
Last year a similar suspicion caused a scare at the busy airport after cargo staff found a shipment with nuclear medicine damaged on Turkish Airlines.
Investigators from India’s nuclear watchdog later found an organic liquid from another consignment had spilled over the nuclear medicine cartons.
In 2010, a scrapyard worker in Delhi died from radiation poisoning and seven others were injured, raising concerns over the handling of radioactive material in India.
Environmental group Toxic Links estimates that India produces 5mn tonnes of hazardous industrial waste every year.
Last year, a similar suspicion caused a scare at the city airport after a radioactive material leak was reported from a Turkish Airlines flight.
But the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board later found that an organic liquid from another consignment had spilled over the nuclear medicine cartons.
A security guard stands near a barricade at New Delhi’s international airport yesterday.
