Regulators launch Investigation into case of guardian's exposure to radiation in Samsung's hospital

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) has launched an investigation into one of Samsung’s hospitals in South Korea.

According to reports, the investigation was initiated after Samsung Medical Center reported the case of a guardian being exposed to radiation.

Staff of the hospital said the guardian who was 2 meters away from the linear accelerator did not show any signs of unusual radiation exposure at the time of the report.

The incident

Samsung Medical Center is one of several hospitals owned by Samsung in South Korea.

It is a tertiary hospital with several others under it including Samsung Seoul Hospital, Kangbook Samsung Hospital, Samsung Changwon Hospital, and Samsung Life Sciences Research Center.

The Samsung Medical Center incident involved a guardian who was in the radiation room when a radiation treatment using a linear accelerator took place.

The hospital later realized and reported the incident to the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) and the NSSC.

Although the guardian seems fine, the investigation is still ongoing to ascertain the radiation dose exposure, as well as determine if the hospital violated the Nuclear Safety Act.

If found wanting, the hospital may be fined for the violation as was the case with the Department of Radiation Oncology at the National Cancer Center, where a radiologist was also exposed to radiation in the linear accelerator room last October.

The department paid a fine of 7 million Won for violating the Nuclear Safety Act even though the radiologist was found to have no radiation exposure.