‘No radioactive leak at Delhi airport’

NEW DELHI: India’s nuclear watchdog allayed fears on Friday of a radioactive leak at New Delhi’s busy international airport, saying tests at the site had turned out negative.
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) said their probe showed organic liquid from another consignment had spilled over the nuclear medicine shipment of Turkish airlines, causing the scare.
“After conducting a probe at the site, we can confirm that there was no radioactive leakage,” AERB Vice-Chairman R. Bhattacharya told the Press Trust of India news agency.
“The leakage on the consignment was a spill-over from another consignment. It’s some organic liquid. This resulted in wetness (of the Turkish consignment).”
Earlier in the day, disaster management officials as well as the government had said a radioactive material leak had been detected on the shipment before being plugged by emergency teams.
The incident happened near the cargo area of Turkish Airlines where four packets containing nuclear medicine material were found to be damaged by cargo handlers.
The airport’s operator identified the material as one having “low radio activity and meant for medicinal use”.