Radioactive Device Recovered

Wed., May 6, 1998

From Staff

Authorities removed a piece of construction equipment containing radioactive material from the Spokane River on Tuesday.

Thieves apparently threw the device from the T.J. Meenach Bridge in northwest Spokane late last month, said Dave Reagan, sheriff’s spokesman.

A kayaker spotted the ice chest-sized yellow container among some rocks under the bridge about 1 p.m. When the boater saw a “Warning: Radioactive” sticker on the container, he called police.

Hazardous materials crews determined that the housing around the radioactive material, which included cesium, was not ruptured and posed no danger to the environment.

They retrieved it from the river and returned it to its owner - EMCON, an environmental services company.

The device, commonly used in road construction, measures the density and moisture content of asphalt and concrete.

On April 27, someone stole one of EMCON’s pickup trucks from the company’s offices near Spokane International Airport, Reagan said. The device was in the back of that truck, he said.

“They apparently saw no use for it, so they apparently threw it off the bridge,” Reagan said.

It was fortunate the radioactive material remained intact, said Skip Powell, battalion chief for the Spokane Fire Department.

“If it had ruptured, it could have contaminated an area about 10 feet around it,” Powell said.

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