A spill of radioactive iodine at the Institute of Energy Technology's 25 MW research reactor in Norway has been contained and has been unofficially categorized as a level one incident, the lowest of the 1 through 7 event scale that rates the most dangerous radioactive accident at seven and the least dangerous at one.
The staff at the Halden research reactor built in a mountain cave near the southern town of Ostfold, was evacuated as the spill was detected on Monday at 1:45 p.m. local time, reports indicate. However, the crew donned protective gear and returned to the reactor to contain the spill, reports indicate.
Officials from Norway's Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) said the leak at the Institutt for Energiteknikk (IFE) reactor posed no threat to the environment outside of the plant. Among the regulator's concerns, however, was the delay in reporting the incident. The regulator said they were not informed of the leak until Tuesday.
“We will investigate how this (leak) could happen and why we were not warned until the following day,” the regulator said in a statement.
“Of course, it's an unfortunate situation, but there is a low environmental risk,” said the regulator's deputy director general Per Strand, as quoted by Reuters. “This is not the sort of leak we want.”
Reuters also said a senior official categorized the incident as "maybe" a 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
One IFE research director has been quoted by media as saying the institute should have told authorities sooner. “I don't sit so close to those decisions, but I think we should have informed the authority yesterday,” said research director Atle Valseth.
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority also reacted to the spill, but only to say that they did not expect they would detect any ambient radiation increase in Sweden, although the Halden reactor – one of Norway's two research reactors – is close to the Swedish border. Norway does not operate any large commercial nuclear power plants.