Radioactive Gas Leak in Irvine Sparks Investigation

A small explosion at an Irvine biomedical laboratory has released the radioactive gas tritium into the atmosphere, prompting an investigation by state and county health officials into possible health hazards, state Health Director Kenneth W. Kizer announced Tuesday.

The company, ICN Biomedicals Inc., confirmed that an accident Feb. 25 in a glass laboratory processing line at its Irvine plant released tritium into the atmosphere for about 12 days. But the firm said there was no danger to the public.

Tritium, or radioactive hydrogen, is a weak beta emitter that is hazardous when swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

Kizer, in a statement from Sacramento, said that about 500 curies of the gas were released in the explosion and that some tritium was still being released. (A curie is a unit quantity of radon that in radioactive equilibrium contains 1 gram of radium.)

Kizer said that activities at the lab have ceased and that the state Department of Health Services was “actively pursuing legal action” against ICN Biomedicals for not promptly notifying the department of the accident.

‘No Significant Public Health Risk’

“There appears to be no significant public health risk from the release,” Kizer said, “however neither internal radiation exposure information nor general population exposure assessments from the incident have been completed.”

ICN Biomedicals, however, denied that tritium is still being released into the atmosphere and said that activities at the plant never stopped because of the accident.

Jack Sholl, ICN Biomedicals vice president for public relations, described the total amount of gas released as enough to fill up a small water glass, or enough to blow up a small balloon.

He added that the company notified the state about the accident March 1, “within the time frame we thought was appropriate for confirmation of this type of incident.”

“We constantly monitor exhaust ducts for tritium 24 hours a day,” he said. “We are, as a company, keenly aware of concerns about the environment (and) rigid safety and environment policies that we strictly adhere to.”

Sholl said the Irvine lab, at 2727 Campus Drive, manufactures products for biomedical and biochemical research, such as recombinant DNA. Tritium is used to label the products and for such other uses as exit signs in aircraft.

“At no time did this release exceed the limits of exposure for areas outside the plant,” Sholl said. “There were no health or safety violations. There was no exposure to individuals either inside or outside the plant.”

Rex Ehling, the county’s director of public health, said it appeared that the release did not pose a threat to human health or the environment but added that the investigation of the incident has not been completed.