On 9/19/03, the U.S. Army Base at Fort Wainwright, AK sent a shipment of five M-119 Howitzers to the National Forest Service in
California to be used for avalanche control. Prior to shipment, the
Tritium fire control devices were removed from the Howitzers and placed in boxes. The boxes containing the fire control devices were inadvertently shipped along with the Howitzers. Two boxes, containing a total of 19.4 curies of
tritium, ended up at the Alpine Meadows ski resort in Tahoe City, CA. Another 3 boxes, containing a total of 28.2 curies of
tritium, ended up at the Mammoth Mountain ski resort in Mammoth Lake, CA.
The National Forest Service will keep the tritium fire control devices in a secure storage location overnight, and they will be picked up by the Radiation Safety Officer from Hawthorne Army Depot on the morning of 10/1/03.
- * * UPDATED VIA FAX ON 10/02/03 @ 1523 EDT* * *
Fort Wainwright, Alaska was given authority to ship 5 ea M119 howitzers to the National Forest Service in California as part of the avalanche control program. Three of the M119's were to be shipped to Mammoth Lakes, CA and two to Alpine Meadows ski area in Tahoe City, CA. The howitzers were in storage and therefore had their tritium fire control devices removed and placed in their associated BII boxes.
All of the fire control devices were properly stored in their BII boxes prior to shipment from Alaska. When the shipment was processed the shippers failed to remove the tritium devices from the Bll boxes (a grand total of 47.6 curies). Therefore the tritium devices were inadvertently shipped with the howitzers on 19 Sept 2003. On 29 Sept 2003, two howitzers, with BII boxes, were received at Alpine Meadows ski area, Tahoe City, CA and three howitzers, with BII boxes, were received at Mammoth Mt. ski area, Mammoth Lake, CA. Upon discovering radioactive commodities had been received, the National Forest Service called the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command [TACOM].
The TACOM RSO [Radiation Safety Officer] contacted the RSO at Hawthorne Army Depot, Hawthorne, CA on 30 Sept 2003 and requested their aid in capturing the radioactive components. On October 1st, 2003 the Hawthorne Army Depot RSO took possession of all the tritium fire control devices. Wipe surveys are being evaluated and disposition of the components will be determined upon receipt of the results.
Notified R3DO (Lara), R4DO (Cain) and
NMSS EO (Janosko).