Samsung's "radiation exposure accident, deep reflection"...urgent need to supplement radiation safety management

[Anchor]
Samsung Electronics' chief safety officer, who appeared at the parliamentary audit of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, said he is deeply reflecting on the radiation exposure accident.

However, they avoided answering whether the burns caused by this exposure accident were injuries or diseases.

Reporter Lim Null-sol reports.

[Reporter]
Samsung Electronics' chief safety officer said he deeply regrets the radiation exposure accident at Giheung Campus.

Samsung Electronics Vice President Yoon Tae-yang said, "We have established fundamental measures to prevent recurrence and are implementing them one by one," adding, "We will support victims to focus on treatment, and take responsibility for the process after treatment and compensation."

However, he avoided answering questions about whether the burns caused by this accident were injuries or diseases.

[Yoon Taeyang / Samsung Electronics Vice President (Chief Safety Officer): There are many opinions about illness and injury. We will receive the interpretation of the relevant laws and regulations for that part.]

[Lee Hae-min / Member of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party: If you can't answer whether the cause of the victim is a burn, an injury, or a disease, how will you come up with measures to prevent a recurrence?]

In the parliamentary audit of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, the recent radiation exposure accident at Samsung Electronics' Giheung Campus was on the cutting board.

It concluded that Samsung Electronics' poor management was the cause of the accident, but it was criticized that the regulatory agency, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, was also responsible.

In a regular inspection of Samsung Electronics' Giheung Campus in 2019, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission evaluated that radiation safety management matters were not procedured or documented, but decided that there was no problem overall.

In addition, Samsung Electronics said at the time that it would appoint additional safety managers, but rather reduced the number of safety managers from three in the following year, 2020, to two.

[Yoo Kook-hee / Chairman of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission: I'm not saying that we don't feel the responsibility. [The National Security Commission will check whether the current management status of the reporting agency for radiation generators is correct or not (the National Security Commission will check whether there is anything to supplement.)]

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said it has also launched an investigation into the exposure accident that occurred at the National Cancer Center on the 7th.

However, even in more stringent licensed equipment than reporting equipment, simple carelessness has caused outrageous accidents, prompting calls for a thorough inspection of radiation safety management in general.

I'm YTN Science Lim Neul-sol.


Video editing: Kim Young-hwan