The HCM City People’s Committee has instructed relevant agencies to install chips in radioactive sources in order to better manage risks, but scientists have warned this will not help.

 

Dr. Vuong Huu Tan, head of the Vietnam Agency for Radioactive and Nuclear Safety (VARANS), an arm of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), has urged such installation of chips in mobile radioactive sources.

The HCM City authorities also decided that the chip installation must be implemented immediately after hearing about the loss of Co-60 radioactive sources as a steel mill in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province.

There are two versions of chips. The first one has only one function of supervising the journeys of devices containing radioactive substances and recording the journeys. The second one has two functions – supervising the journeys of the devices and measuring radioactivity, giving warnings if radioactivity exceeds the safety line.

The chips to be installed in HCM City are the first ones. The second-group chip installation will only be implemented after MST and VARANS release the radiation measurement standards.

According to Tan, VARANS will submit to MST a detailed action plan, under which a software system and computer network need to be set up to supervise the chips’ operation. 

The radiation facilities must buy terminal devices and install them on their radioactive sources and pay for the internet. Expenditures would not be high for businesses.

“We will work out the requirements for the supervision system. The devices must be sure that they work properly and can transmit information to the monitoring system located at VARANS,” he said.

“Alerts will be given as soon as any unusual sign occurs,” he said. “The officers at VARANS will be alerted when the radiation signs suddenly disappear. They will also be able to find out what the troubled radioactive sources and where they are.”

However, Pham Minh Duc from the Hai Phong City Department of Science and Technology, warned that worries would still exist even if chips were installed.

Duc said it will be necessary to set up a procedure on managing chip signal frequency.

Many questions have been raised by Duc to prove that it would be a very complicated job to control radioactive sources with global positioning devices.

“Nobody would sit in front of computer screen for 24 hours to keep watch over radioactive sources. Meanwhile, it should be permissible to move radioactive sources to other places after the receive a license,” he said.

“Will it be necessary to require radioactive sources’ owners to follow a certain path for easier management?” he said. “Will it be necessary to set up a unit in charge of supervising the path of the sources and stop them when they go the wrong way?” 

Dat Viet