The management of the Rance Émeraude Hospital Group, in Saint-Malo, wished to give, this Thursday, May 2, an explanation to the events which took place on April 17, at the Saint-Malo waste treatment center. That day, a radioactivity detection gantry had identified radioactive emissions in the waste elimination circuit, following the arrival of the hospital waste evacuation truck.
Stuck truck
The offending truck was immediately sequestered pending further analysis and hospital management was informed of the problem. A company specializing in the characterization of radioactive waste then intervened to identify the Source element, namely the radionuclide Lutetium 177.
Nuclear safety
It was therefore necessary to mobilize the Nuclear Safety Authority, the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety as well as the Eugène Marquis Center in Rennes, to carry out investigative work. Hospital Group professionals competent in radiation protection worked to identify the origin of this event. “It turned out that the Saint-Malo establishment received in a vital emergency a person who had benefited two weeks previously in another establishment from chemotherapy whose composition included this new radionuclide, Lutetium 177. The radioactive decay is longer than other products used. It is at the origin of the triggering of the radioactivity detection gantry of the waste treatment center, even if the doses were infinitesimal,” explains the management of the GHRE in a press release.
Low dose
“The alert threshold of the waste treatment center gantry is graduated so as to detect any radioactive Source, even very weak, which allows very high responsiveness on the part of the SMPRB services which manage the site, as in the case here. Today, the waste is isolated at the waste treatment center while waiting for the radioactivity to decay and its evacuation.
According to GHRE management, the handling of this waste does not pose any health risk given the thresholds detected
The Rance Émeraude Hospital Group explains that it has updated its protocols, “in conjunction with the Nuclear Safety Authority and the Eugène Marquis Center,” regarding the hospital waste circuit, “in order to take into account therapeutic developments and their impact on waste produced by the hospital establishment. »
The occupational health service of the Rance Émeraude Hospital Group was keen to confirm that “the handling of this waste does not entail any health risk given the thresholds detected. »
