1962 Mexico City radiation accident

Mexican incident with four fatalities thumb|Diagram of capsule found in 1962 Mexico City Radiation Accident Between March and July 1962, a radiation incident in Mexico City occurred when a ten-year-old boy took home an industrial radiography source and removed it from its proper shielding. Five individuals received significant doses of radiation from the 200-gigabecquerel cobalt-60 capsule,Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation: 2008 UNSCEAR Report https://www.unscear.org/docs/publications/2008/UNSCEAR_2008_Annex-C-CORR.pdf United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation 18 May 2016 9 23 March 2023 23 March 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230323213556/https://www.unscear.org/docs/publications/2008/UNSCEAR_2008_Annex-C-CORR.pdf dead four of whom died.Planning the Medical Response to Radiological Accidents p. 16. Reports differ as to the source's provenance: it was either taken from an office,Vizier Gustavo 21 August 1962 I fratellini giocavano con cobalto radioattivo The little siblings played with radioactive cobalt http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,5/articleid,1568_02_1962_0184_0005_23723935/ live 3 September 2026 La Stampa 5 Italian found in a field,Andrews Gould A. Mexican Co60 Radiation Accident Isotopes and Radiation Technology 1 2 200-201 1964 https://archive.org/download/sim_isotopes-and-radiation-technology_winter-1963-winter-1964_1_2/sim_isotopes-and-radiation-technology_winter-1963-winter-1964_1_2.pdf or was already in the house's yard when the affected family moved in and "was left to the family to keep and watch without any of the members of the family knowing exactly what the container was".Comas Frank V. (transl.) Report entitled 'Observations on the Accidental Exposure of a Family to a Source of Cobalt-60', published in 1964 https://www.osti.gov/opennet/servlets/purl/16292029.pdf U.S. Department of Energy OpenNet System 30 January 2023 Mexico City A 2008 report by UNSCEAR says it was left, unprotected, in the yard by an engineer. The boy is believed to have obtained the source some time after moving into the house on March 21. He kept it in his trouser pocket for several days. On April 1, his mother, Mercedes Castellanos, 20 August 1962 Tres Muertos a Causa de Emanaciones Radioactivas Three Dead from Radioactive Emissions http://hemeroteca.informador.com.mx/ live 3 September 2026 El_Informador_(Mexico) 1-2 placed it in the kitchen cabinet of their home, where it remained until July 22. The boy died on April 29. Subsequently, his mother – six months pregnant at the time – died on July 19; his two-year-old sister died on August 18; and his paternal grandmother, who had been living with the family since April 17, died on October 15 that year. The boy's father, José Espíndola Ibarra, also received a significant radiation dose; although he was left permanently sterile, he survived, presumably because he worked outside the home and his exposure was lower.Johnston Wm. Robert Mexico City orphaned source, 1962 http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/1962MEX1.html Database of radiological incidents and related events – Johnston's Archive 25 December 2016Ortiz P. Oresegun M. Wheatley J. Lessons from major radiation accidents https://www.irpa.net/irpa10/cdrom/00140.pdf Safety 2002 21-1Smith H. Dose-effect relationships for early response to total body irradiation Journal of the Society for Radiological Protection 1983 3:5–10 3 5–10 1983JSRP....3....5S 10.1088/0260-2814/3/3/001 See also List of orphan source incidents 1984 Ciudad Juárez cobalt-60 contamination incident 1986–1988 radioactive milk distribution in Mexico 1990 Clinic of Zaragoza radiotherapy accident 1987 Goiânia accident List of civilian radiation accidents Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents Nuclear safety and security Radioactive scrap metal 2000 Samut Prakan radiation accident Therac-25 References External links Martínez Nurit El Chernóbil mexicano no fue el primer accidente The Mexican Chernobyl was not the first accident https://oem.com.mx/elsoldemexico/mexico/el-chernobil-mexicano-no-fue-el-primer-accidente-16701177 El Sol de México 11 June 2022 es Vizier Gustavo I fratellini giocavano con cobalto radioattivo The little siblings played with radioactive cobalt http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,5/articleid,1568_02_1962_0184_0005_23723935/ La Stampa 21 August 1962 it Category:Health disasters in Mexico Category:Industrial accidents and incidents in Mexico Category:1962 in Mexico Category:1962 disasters in Mexico Category:1962 health disasters Mexico City Category:March 1962 in Mexico