The radioactive material involved in the alert at Dublin Airport was identified yesterday as a technetium-99m generator. Mr Joe Jacob, the Minister of State for Public Enterprise, ail that said the generator produces technetium-99m, which is used in hospitals to diagnose diseases such as cancer, through the imaging of internal organs. The material was on an Aer Lingus flight from Paris and transit passengers on the flight who were travelling on to Cork were evacuated from the aircraft to wait in the terminal for another flight.
Mr Jacob said the incident occurred when the package containing the generator was placed on the flat area of the belt loader. "Movement of the loader brought it into contact with the package, causing damage," he said. "The inner packaging which contained the radioactive material was intact, perfectly safe and undamaged."
An inspector from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland carried out a careful examination and there was "no radiation contamination of the area arising from the incident", said Mr Jacob, who has ministerial responsibility for energy.
The issue was raised by Mr Emmet Stagg (Lab, Kildare North) who demanded that "such highly dangerous and volatile material should be surface-transported only". He also called on the Minister to introduce measures to prevent the carriage of nuclear materials in Irish airspace.
Mr Jacob said, however, that Aer Lingus has carried radioactive materials on many of its scheduled services. He added that were strict regulations governing the transport of radioactive materials and their packaging.