Radioactive Isotope Spills at VA Medical Center

A radioactive isotope spilled in a research lab at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in La Jolla on Friday and was tracked around the hospital by workers, contaminating several corridors and elevators, officials said.

The radioactive material, which is used in research and cancer therapy, was spread in small quantities over several floors after the spill about 3 a.m. Friday, but posed no threat to patients or staff members, hospital spokeswoman Gayle Gray said.

“After they finished cleaning it up, they ran an analysis of the people cleaning up and nothing was found on them,” Gray said.

She said the hospital floors had been cleaned and decontaminated.

Gray said a team from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was scheduled to arrive late Friday to investigate the spill.

“We’ve asked them to come just to determine that everything was all right,” she said.

“The levels of radiation the hospital reported to us should not pose a health hazard to any of the people in the hospital, including people who may have gotten the material on their clothing or shoes,” commission spokesman Reg Cook said.

“The only people that we’re concerned about at the moment are the four people who we understand were working at the lab where the spill occurred last night,” he said. “We don’t know what sort of contamination they may have experienced.

“The main thing we’d be worried about is the radiation exposure itself,” Cook said.

He said commission investigators wouldn’t know the extent of the contamination until they interviewed the workers, who were not identified.

Cook said that, when hospital staff members arrived in the morning, they found the lab sealed with tape indicating that the area was contaminated, but the hospital radiation safety officer did not learn of the spill until about 8:30 a.m. He said he didn’t know who had sealed the lab or how many people actually were in the lab when the spill occurred.