Radioactive waste found in a scrapyard that caused the death of one person and left several others seriously ill from exposure has been traced to a laboratory at Delhi University, news reports said Thursday. The toxic cobalt-60 came from a gamma irradiator machine bought from Canada in 1970, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported, quoting police. The machine had been sitting unused in the university's chemistry department laboratory from 1985 to this February when the university sold it to scrap dealers in Delhi's Mayapuri area. The scrap dealers dismantled the machine and in the process peeled off a lead covering exposing the radioactive cobalt-60, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sharad Aggarwal was quoted as saying. Eight people including dealers from the scrap market were admitted to hospital in mid-April suffering from radiation exposure. A 35-year-old radiation victim died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Monday. Another person is critical, one has been released, while the others are stable, doctors said. India has strict laws governing the purchase, maintenance and sale of radioactive materials. "We will first cancel Delhi University's licence (to purchase and maintain radioactive materials) and then decide on other penal action," SS Bajaj, chairman of India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, said. Delhi University vice chancellor Deepak Pental said he had no information about the auction of radioactive material. "It is a serious matter. If at all it is the department's fault, then strict action will be taken," Pental said. According to regulations, the university should have informed the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board after decommissioning the machine and the board would have removed it for safe disposal of the radioactive waste. The government is considering a programme to train doctors at major hospitals for emergencies related to radiation exposure, PTI news agency reported. India is in the process of expanding its nuclear power sector with projects to build several reactors in the pipeline.
