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RE: Radioactive spill near Dorval airport




posted at
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/pages/991027/3054840.html

Wednesday 27 October 1999
Probe of 'spill' wanted
Mayor of Dorval criticizes response to emergency at airport
LYNN MOORE
The Gazette 
Dorval Mayor Peter Yeomans is demanding a "full and exhaustive review" of
events surrounding what was at first feared to be a radioactive spill at
Dorval airport Monday night. 
"I'm not criticizing what was done but the order in which it was done and
who was involved and when," he said yesterday in a phone interview. 
Yeomans said he learned from the media - and not emergency-response
officials - that emergency procedures were under way at an airport cargo
hangar. Not only was he kept in the dark too long about what could have been
a disastrous situation, the media were not supplied information in a timely
fashion, he said. 
"The population can be very unnerved (about a situation that might require a
mass evacuation), and we have to be very careful about how this sort of
thing is handled," he said. 
Although he had received "mixed reports," early indications were that the
accident might have been prevented, Yeomans added. 
Notwithstanding Yeomans's concerns, Transport Canada official Alain
Levesque, who was on the scene Monday night, said yesterday that the
suspected - but unfounded - spill of radioactive material was properly
handled. 
But as a matter of course, the incident will be reviewed by his agency, the
Atomic Energy Board of Canada and emergency-response officials, said
Levesque, a specialist who audits emergency-response plans. 
'all possible precautions taken' 
Levesque said "all possible precautions were taken" by the workers initially
involved in the incident, which is what should happen. 
"I think the response at first - (with emergency-response people) not
knowing exactly the situation - was correct, but it gave the impression that
there was a high level of hazard, which was not the case," he said. 
The incident revolved around a damaged container that had contained a type
of medical radio-isotope. Inside the container was a tube that had carried
the material. The tube weighed about 300 pounds, was about 18 inches long
and 6 inches in diameter, Levesque said. 
The container was en route from Brazil back to the supplier in Ottawa, and
was being handled by staff at Excel Cargo, one of the airport's independent
cargo-handlers, when it fell. The clip holding the container's lid in place
was dislodged, according to Levesque and representatives of Excel. About 15
people had to leave the hanger. 
"There was no contamination, no product loss. The container was empty,"
Levesque said. 
When firefighters who were called to the scene tested for radiation, they
got a reading, but "the source of radiation was the container itself because
it was made of depleted uranium, which is used to absorb radiation," he
added. "It is the best material that you can have to absorb radiation. É but
it is a very weak source of radiation." 
Readings were detectable only within about a metre of the container, he
said. 
Shipment of the empty container conformed "to all existing regulations,"
said Levesque, adding that requirements would have been different had the
container been full. 
<><><><><><><><><>

any idea what might have been in the container [before it was returned] ?

Jaro
frantaj@aecl.ca
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