Pool Used For Radioactive Water Stolen

Everybody out of the pool - it’s radioactive.

The state Health Department said Tuesday someone swiped a radiationcontaminated swimming pool from an industrial site in this Buffalo suburb.

The 4-foot-deep, above-ground pool was used as a reservoir for water tainted with the radioactive chemical americium, said Lloyd Novick, director of the state Office of Public Health.

It had been dismantled and stored behind a fence after the cleanup and was to be removed to a permanent dump site. Then someone took it over the Christmas weekend.

“If their idea was to set it up in their back yard, that is …

Everybody out of the pool - it’s radioactive.

The state Health Department said Tuesday someone swiped a radiationcontaminated swimming pool from an industrial site in this Buffalo suburb.

The 4-foot-deep, above-ground pool was used as a reservoir for water tainted with the radioactive chemical americium, said Lloyd Novick, director of the state Office of Public Health.

It had been dismantled and stored behind a fence after the cleanup and was to be removed to a permanent dump site. Then someone took it over the Christmas weekend.

“If their idea was to set it up in their back yard, that is a problem,” said Health Department spokesman William Fagel. “You couldn’t tell by looking at it that it’s radioactive, but it is. It’s not glowing in the dark or anything.” Novick said the radiation level does not pose a serious risk.