One day at the construction site, a mason saw a cylinder about a few centimeters, looking shiny and curious, and he put it in his pocket as a treasure. Unexpectedly, it was this treasure that led to serious consequences, resulting in the death of 3 family members, including Zhang Youchang, serious injuries to his wife, and 140 injuries. What is so powerful as "baby"? What's going on here? Friends who like to watch stories may wish to click on a note, let's take a look at the story behind this cylinder "baby".
Historical background.
In September 1973, a municipal science and technology bureau in Shanxi province applied for cobalt 60co for a radioactive source radiation device in the radiation breeding test of crops. Cobalt 60co is a radioactive metallic element that, when used well, can be angelic; If it is not used well, it may be a demon and will bring terrible disasters.
The application report was sent to the Electro-Optical Institute of the Second Machine Department. After the review, six pieces of cobalt 60co were safely sent to the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau and placed in the radiation laboratory, mainly for crop testing. Later, the Science and Technology Bureau was renamed the Science and Technology Commission, and in 1980 it was relocated elsewhere. At that time, when it was moved, the Science and Technology Commission moved everything that could be moved, but there was a batch of test equipment, which was finally left to the environmental monitoring station to manage due to the conditions of the new office. The equipment and laboratories that remain contain dangerous irradiation chambers.
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Shift cobalt 60co to lay the groundwork for disaster.
In 1992, the Environmental Monitoring Station planned to demolish the old building and re-expand the office space. The CST should also be involved in ensuring the safe transfer of radioactive material. In order to ensure the smooth progress of this work and ensure the safe transfer of these radioactive materials, the CST specially hired two staff members from the China Institute of Radiation Protection to assist. One of their main tasks is to send cobalt 60co as radioactive waste to a special warehouse in the province for storage to avoid security incidents.
In June of that year, two experts from other places and three local experts in Shanxi held a meeting to study the transfer plan. On June 25, the transfer began. Everyone carried out a division of labor, and the local expert He Mou was responsible for supervising and providing a position. Experts invited from the field are responsible for the dismantling of the cobalt 60co, i.e. responsible for the main technical operations. The remaining two local experts removed the cobalt 60co from the stainless steel drum and transferred it to another specialized lead can. The question arises, with such a detailed division of labor, why would the transfer of this radioactive cobalt 60co cause a serious accident that followed?
It turned out to be in a small detail. At that time, when the experts invited outside were dismantling the cobalt 60co, He Mou of the local science and technology commission told the experts that there were only 4 cobalt 60co below. As mentioned earlier, there are six cobalt 60co in the underground Russian well room. Two experts wearing radiation protection suits went down the well, directly removed 4 cobalt 60co in the well room, and found a lead plug, the expert suspected that this thing may be dangerous, so they put it into the lead can. That is to say, the experts finally processed only 5 cobalt 60co, and there was a cobalt 60co under the well. 6 cobalt 60co, one from France and the other 5 from the former Soviet Union. In this way, the remaining cobalt 60co remained in the well of the Science and Technology Commission.
On July 4, the demolition of cobalt 60co was completed. He Mou of the Science and Technology Commission believes that this work has been completed, so he transferred the key to the original cobalt 60co room to the environmental monitoring station.
Accidents occur.
The cobalt 60co has been successfully transferred, and the environmental monitoring station believes that it can be expanded here with confidence. But what no one expected at the time was that there was also a "demon" underground, and a huge security incident was ready to break out. In September of that year, the engineering team entered the site and the expansion work began. The first step is to demolish the old building first. When the blasting experts came with explosives, they were reminded that radiation tests had been done here before, and it was best to check them. So the construction team went in to check it, but because it was not professional, it just casually looked at it and installed explosives. With a bang, the old building of the former Science and Technology Commission was razed to the ground.
Because of the needs of the project, many local villagers were invited to participate in the foundation cleaning. In November, a mason named Zhang Youchang appeared. On this day, he got up early, rushed to the construction site, and began to work. Speaking of Zhang Youchang, he is just an ordinary worker, married for less than a year. His wife, Zhang Fang, is in her 20s, five months pregnant, and works as a car stopper in a factory. Although life is not rich, this family is very happy and full of hopes for the future. But they didn't expect a tragedy to come from underground.
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After arriving at the construction site, Zhang Youchang warmly greeted other workers in the same village and then began a busy day. In the morning, a co-worker named Zhang Maohong went down the well to dig the foundation, and inadvertently dug up a metal object, shiny, only a few centimeters long, which seemed to be of no use, and directly threw the metal object outside the well. At this time, he had no idea that this was not an ordinary metal object, but cobalt 60co. Zhang Youchang, who was working by the well, saw this thing thrown up from the well, looked very funny, and put it into his pocket, thinking that he had picked up some treasure.
Damage caused by cobalt 60co.
Cobalt 60co is radioactive metal, and the piece of cobalt 60co placed in Zhang Youchang's pocket is like a demon, ready to start hurting people. Before noon, Zhang Youchang began to vomit up and down, and his stomach hurt so much that he rolled on the ground, which was very uncomfortable. In the afternoon, he told his family that he still had stomachaches and was upset. So I quickly went to the hospital, and after the examination, the doctor could not find out the reason, so I let Zhang Youchang stay in the hospital for observation.
Since his wife was 5 months pregnant, Zhang Youchang's second brother took care of him. At this time, Zhang Youchang, who was lying on the hospital bed, had a distinct purple color on his face, but the doctor still could not find the problem. Then, the second brother who took care of Zhang Youchang also said that he had stomach pain, frequent vomiting, rapid heartbeat, and some skin also turned purple. Upon seeing this, the doctor suspected that they were suffering from an infectious disease, so they quickly isolated them. However, the brothers were monitored for three consecutive days and no symptoms of the infectious disease were found. Eventually, they contacted their families and suggested that they should be rushed to the provincial hospital.
Then, Zhang Youchang's father and father-in-law came, carrying the Zhang family brothers on their backs, and rushed to the provincial hospital for diagnosis and treatment. After arriving at the hospital, there were a series of examinations, but the cause was not found at all. When the father-in-law was overtly sorting out the clothes, he suddenly heard the metal falling to the ground, thinking that it was the child's thing, quickly picked it up, and put it into the clothes. In the end, the cause could not be found in the provincial hospital, and the two parents had to let the brothers go home first.
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Tragedy happened.
From the time Zhang Youchang picked up cobalt 60co, in 14 days, he left this world. Soon, the second brother who was taking care of Zhang Youchang in the hospital at that time also died in the painful torture. But the tragedy is not over. At this time, Zhang Youchang's father and wife also had the same symptoms, I don't know what happened?
In order to find out the reason, the father-in-law decided to take Zhang Fang to the clinic. An ordinary family has encountered a mysterious disease, and everyone is at risk. On the way to Beijing, Zhang Fang's condition began to deteriorate, and when she entered the emergency department of Beijing People's Hospital, her body was close to exhaustion. However, the reason for such news has not yet been found, but Nanguan Village in Xinzhou has been pushed to the cusp of public opinion. The villages and towns, which were originally very lively, soon became deserted. The Zhang family father and son were exposed to cobalt 60co and eventually suffered misfortune.
In Beijing, the top domestic experts gathered here, and they came to The pregnant woman Zhang Fang to consult her. Some experts also brought professional equipment for her to check. After research and analysis, it was finally inferred that Zhang Fang may have encountered excessive ionizing radiation exposure, and it was also inferred that the three fathers and sons of the Zhang family also died because of this reason. Because of the special situation, after the cause was found, the hospital immediately reported it, and the relevant leaders of the state requested that the radioactive source be found as soon as possible.
Look for radioactive sources.
After receiving the central order, a large team of experts rushed to Xinzhou and Taiyuan to select the lost cobalt 60co, but after looking for it six times, they did not find out where the cobalt 60co went. At the critical time, a doctor at a hospital in Shanxi provided an important clue, saying that when Zhang Youchang was examined, he saw a shiny metal object in his pocket, like a cylinder. At that time, when asked the patient whether he wanted this thing, Zhang Youchang finally shook his head and said no. Experts listen, this thing is most likely cobalt 60co. So the investigation of medical waste, but spent a lot of manpower and material resources, has not found cobalt 60co. Later, someone found Zhai Moumou, a cleaner in the hospital, and after doing some ideological work, the expert team found the cobalt 60co on the side of the road. Later, cobalt 60co was put into lead tanks, and the crisis was finally lifted.
As for why cobalt 60co was dumped on the side of the road, Zhai said that he did not want to go to the garbage disposal station, so he casually found a roadside to dump the garbage. The location of cobalt 60co is exactly a tourist attraction, and if it is late, the consequences are unimaginable. After the investigation, this cobalt 60co stayed in Zhang Youchang's pocket for a total of 8 days. On July 30, 1994, the follow-up investigation into the Xinzhou radiation accident was finally concluded, resulting in three deaths and 141 injuries. Six people were prosecuted, and that He was severely punished by the law for dereliction of duty.