AUSTRIA:A PLUTONIUM leak at an ageing laboratory in Austria was described yesterday as a "wake-up call" by the UN's nuclear watchdog.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was not yet sure how a small quantity of the highly poisonous plutonium began leaking at its facility in Seibersdorf, near Vienna.
The agency said it was confident no plutonium had escaped into the environment, but said the leak increased the urgency of refurbishing the 1970 facility, which no longer meets the UN's own safety standards. In a statement, the IAEA said that a storage room was contaminated after a "pressure build-up in a small sealed sample bottle in a storage safe" at the Safeguards Analytical Laboratory.
The laboratory was empty at the time of the incident, 2.30am on Sunday, and initial checks indicated no radioactive leaks.
Three rooms are contaminated with plutonium and have been sealed off. Plutonium is a radioactive element created from uranium and is used in nuclear weapons. Exposure to the element is extremely hazardous because it can irradiate internal organs and collect in the bones.
"The laboratory is equipped with multiple safety systems, including an air-filtering system to prevent the release of radioactivity to the environment," the IAEA's statement said.
"There will be restricted access to the affected rooms until they are decontaminated."
The IAEA's laboratory, part of a larger complex in Seibersdorf, 35km from Vienna, analyses nuclear material as part of routine IAEA safety work.
The IAEA has requested €27 million from member states to bring the facility up to modern safety standards.
Last November, IAEA head Mohammed El Baradei complained about the facility.
"The agency's ability to provide independent and timely analysis of safeguards samples is at risk because of ageing technical infrastructure and analytical equipment at our Safeguards Analytical Laboratory," he said. "Perimeter security at the facility does not meet current agency and UN system standards. The severe lack of space available to perform multiple operations involving nuclear and radioactive materials also raises the risk of not being able to meet agency safety requirements."
The lab is just one of 20 such sites in IAEA member states around the world, and co-ordinates testing of samples from nuclear facilities worldwide.