As a historic accord between India and the US takes our country forward on its path to nuclear commerce, the ability to effect safeguards is going to be critical. Against this backdrop, the first radiation-related death of a common man provides a wakeup-call that must be taken very seriously. The alarms went up when some people were hospitalised with what was diagnosed and was subsequently revealed to be exposure to radioactive material in the Delhi scrap market of Mayapuri. A team of radiation safety experts from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Mumbai, the Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) investigated the incident. The radiation was tracked back to an unlikely source?the Delhi University. It appears that the university?s chemistry department had purchased an irradiator for conducting experiments involving the effect of gamma rays on chemicals from Atomic Energy Canada Limited in 1968. The idea was that the equipment would be used by students in the department, but it had reportedly been lying idle for around 25 years. University authorities auctioned it in February, obviously without taking proper precautions or putting out appropriate warnings. One university source has gone public with even more chilling information, pertaining to how the chemistry department has actually been burying radioactive waste. While both AERB and the Delhi University vice-chancellor deny this claim, obviously something is very rotten in the state of this institution.
What must be emphasised is that there is a plethora of institutions in possession of radioactive material. Medical institutions and other universities are the obvious suspects. And the obvious question that comes to mind is whether all these institutions are following proper regulatory procedures when it comes to operation or disposal of such material. Actually, it now appears that there are no guidelines in place for how higher educational institutions use hazardous materials in their laboratories. Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal has now asked the University Grants Commission to frame such guidelines for the procurement, use and disposal of hazardous substances. Universities and colleges will also be directed to follow the existing safety guidelines issued by agencies such as AERB. All these plans should hopefully achieve fruition. But one wonders how Delhi University has hitherto been running programmes like an MSc in physics with specialisation in nuclear science or an MTech in nuclear science and technology in the absence of such guidelines.
