(448.4451) WISE-Amsterdam - The Environment Ministry said a worker was irradiated when the hermetic seal broke on a container holding nuclear fuel. The incident was initially assessed at one on the international seven-point "nuclear event" scale, but later upgraded to three. A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), described the incident as "no big deal".
Ukrainian Environment Ministry duty officer Vasily Fazly said the incident occurred after the container had been removed from the reactor for checks. "One person working in the hall received the equivalent of a year's permitted radiation." There was no contamination outside the immediate area but the assessment was upgraded because of potential radiation danger to other employees. The worker in question had walked unaware into a room which had been contaminated. Valery Bulatov, a senior Chernobyl official, denied there had been any attempt to conceal the circumstances of the November incident.
Source: Reuter, 8 March 1996
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