Duration 9 years Non-fatal injuries 17 exposed Location Kramatorsk, Ukraine | Type radiological accident Number of deaths 6 End date 1989 | |
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Similar Goiânia accident, 1968 Thule Air Base B‑52 crash, Kyshtym disaster, Windscale fire, Tokaimura nuclear accident |
The Kramatorsk radiological accident was a radiation accident that happened in Kramatorsk, Ukrainian SSR from 1980 to 1989. In 1989, a small capsule containing highly radioactive caesium-137 was found inside the concrete wall of an apartment building, with a surface gamma radiation exposure dose rate of 1800 R/year.
It is believed that the source, originally a part of a measurement device (most likely a level meter), was lost in the late 1970s and ended up mixed with material used to construct the building in 1980.
Over 9 years, two families lived in the apartment. By the time the capsule was discovered, 6 residents of the building had died from leukemia and 17 more had received varying doses of radiation. The accident was detected only after the residents requested that the level of radiation be measured in the apartment by a health physicist.
The address where the accident occurred is Gvardeytsiv Kantemirovtsiv Street, Building 7, Apartment 85, between apartments 85 and 52.