ML20141E113

Forwards Incident Repts Involving Small Radium Source Sent to Canada on 851211 in Scrap Steel Shipment from General Motors in Detroit,Per 860123 Discussion

ML20141E113
Person / Time
Issue date:	01/24/1986
From:	Burke K NRC OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS (OIP)
To:	Kerr G NRC OFFICE OF STATE PROGRAMS (OSP)
Shared Package
ML20141E085	List: ML20141E081 ML20141E087 ML20141E100 ML20141E113 ML20141E116 ML20141E121
References
NUDOCS 8604080482
Download: ML20141E113 (14)

Text

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JRShea JAN 2 4 E RDHauber HJFaulkner KDBurke File-Canada JLotienau,SP MEMORANDUM FOR:

G. Wayne Kerr. Director Office of State Programs FROM:

Kevin D. Burke Intemational Relations Specialist Technical Liaison Section. IP

SUBJECT:

RADIUM SOURCE IN SCRAP METAL SHIPEhT Enclosed, per our discussion on Thursday. January 23. are the incident reports involving a small radium source which was sent to Canada on December 11,1985 in a scrap steel shipment from General Motors in Detroit.

I have also of the educational poster that the Canadian Atomic Energy enclosed a copy (AECB) developed and distributed to scrap metal yards in Canada Control Board following the Mexican incident. The AECB has given its pennission for us to reprint the poster.

Ke n. Burke Intehational Relations Specialist Technical Liaison Section Office of International Programs

Enclosures:

1.

12/11/85 Letter SFKatzman Zalev Brothers. Ltd., to Canadian Ministry of the Environment. Attn: MParaschak l

2.

12/12/85 Letter CCSt. Pierre. Clayton Environmental Consultants. Ltd.,

to Gignac-Sutts. Attn: CNSutts l

i 3.

12/13/85 Memo MParaschak Canadian Ministry of the Environment, to File i

4.

1/2/86 Letter WRBrown. AECB. to KBurke. NRC 5.

Poster: Hazardous Scrap M $ w s/ o /t jn if.&ab

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g DEC 121985 www In..

M Zalow Brothers Limited Telephone:1519) anos20 100 Grand Marais Road East Deftolt:(313) 9618311 P.O. Som 609 Telec Za! bro 064 77796 Windsor, Ontario N9A SN5 Far (519) 9#5372 L

December 11, 1985 The Ministry of The Environment.

250 Windsor Ave. 6th Floor, Windsor, Ontario Attention: Michael Paraschak Gentlemen The following is a report on the incident that occurred on Wednesday, the 11th of December, 1985.

The events that occurred are as follows:

1.

Zalev Brothers Limited ("7BL") provides General Motors with a roll-off box into which GMC deposits scrap metal produced by its

?

manufacturing operations.

GMC telephones ZBL when the box is 5

filled and ZBL sends a truck to pick up the box and return it to

.I its yard where it is weighed and the materials are processed.

?

2.

GMC telephoned IBL to pick up the box since it was filled.

ZBL dispatched Far Western Truck, Unit 8278-2 to GMC at approximately 7 A.M.

The truck returned to the ZBL yard with the filled box at approximately 8:20 A.M.

The truck contained box 4

l, dumber 6074 which weighed 30,780 lbs. upon arrival.

This box had been placed empty st*GMC on Friday the 6th of December, 1985.

3.

After being weighed, the truck proceeded'to the Auto Shredder l

where the tail gate on the box was opened and the contents dumped onto the ground at the west side of the Auto Shredder feeding system.

4 The truck returned to the scale where it was weighed empty at 8:53 A.M.

The truck was then dispatched to the Ford Rawsonville Plant in Michigan and it left immediately..

5.

The scrap dumped was out of reach of crane no. 40, operated

~

by Tom Finn.

This crane operates a magnet that feeds the loose material into the shredder.

The inspector, Muhammed Sinjari, inspected the scrap and rejected a steel sealed tank, the " tank" because it was suspect..

Sealed tanks are always rejected because

~

the; may exploade when being shredded.

At approximately 9:20 A.M.

Sinjari radioed for the Front End Loader, operated by Joe Atkins.

He requested Atkins to take the tank away from the shredder to torching area 1128.

Atkins delivered the tank to torching area 1128 in the yard.

Continued...

i f

../

6.

At torching area 1128 Ron Dubreuil examined the tank and noticed various gauges and valves.

He attempted to read the uriting on.one valve and when he tried to turn it, it broke off in his hand.

He then noticed a symbol indicating that the valve contained radioactive material.

He dropped the valve on the ground.

Charles Bentley and Guy Drouin, two other employees in the torching area, picked up the valve, examined it and proceeded to the lunchroom.

This was approximately 9: 45 A.M.

and most employees. sere in the lunchroom for a coffee break.

7.

The three men arrived at the lunchroom and spoke with Rob McIntyre, the Union Representative on the Safety Committee and reported the incident to him.

They are then proceeded to area 1128 with Roger King, a supervisor' o.n the Safety Committee, and i

Jim Tirpko, the foreman of the burning area.

They decided the valve should be removed.

King went to the warehouse and found a five gallon pail into.which he deposited the valve.

He left the pail containing the valve on the back stairway into ZBL's office.

8 8.

At approximately 10:20 A.M. Dean Zaley was advised by Ken

)

Patterson that ZBL had received a load of scrap containing a valve with a hazardous radiation label.

Dean immediately reviewed ZBL's g

GMC file and identified the sales agent at GMC (Ron Revitver).

He telephoned him and notified him of the incident.

He also called Bernie Ziff at National Travellers', Max Zalev at Morton Terminal 4

and Shtidon Jarcaig at Detroit and asked them to return to the f

yard.

Max immediately directed that operations and shipments be g

suspended.

This was completed at 10:40 A.M. Truck 8278 was also called back to ZBL's yard with box 6074 Dean slao instructed

~

Matt Sauro to take photographs of the scrap received from GMC 4

including the tank and valve.

9.

Dean advised Revitver of GMC's shipping number and' informed him ZBL's operations had been shut down.

He also advised Les Main, ZBL's dispatcher in the control center, and Main confirmed all operations had been shut down.

Main also confirmed that no l

shipments of shredded ZIP produced by the shredder, had left ZBL's yard that morning.

This all occurred between 10:23 and 10:40 A.M.

The employees working at the shredder were instructed not to allow anyone or anything to enter this are which was placed under quarantine.

10 Commensing at approximately 10:40 A.M.

Dean had telephone conversations with Gary Pannecouk and John Arnoske of GMC.

He supplied them with all the information he had at that time.

Dean suggested that they telephone GMC's chief environmental officer and report the incident to him.

Dean then telephoned Sutts and discussed the matter with him.

It was agreed that every precaution be taken to protect all personnel and to determine if there was in fact a problem.

Sutts agreed to telephone Clayton Environmental and have them immediately attend at the yard and survey the site.

Continued.....

..e g

~ 11.

At.approximately 10: 55 A.M.

Sutts confirmed to Dean that Clayton Environmental would attend at ZBL's yard with'the e

oquipment necessary to conduct the survey. He also suggested that Dean keep a log of the events and identify all persons who had been in contact with the valve.

12.

At approximately 10:50 A.M. when Ziff. received Dean's call, Ziff was at National Travellers with Ginty, the Union Representative, Wayne Sauve Sr., Dale Pearce and Vic Perrotta, the three Union Stewards.

Ziff informed them af the problem.

He agreed to keep them informed, adjourned the meeting and returned to ZBL's yard.

i 13.

Ziff returned to the yard and at approximately 11:25 A.M.

Max cnd Ziff toured ZBL's yard.

They interviewed Bentley, Drouin and Dubreuil and commended them for their decisive action that corning.

Max informed.them of the f a. cts.

Ziff ordered the Front End Loader which transported the tank to the torching area 1128, taken out of operation.

The operator, Atkins, was informed of the ovents.

Max.and Ziff called a meeting of all yerd personnel in i,

the lunchroom for 11:45 A.M.

They then interviewed Finn and Sinjari who both confirmed that there had not been any material put into the shredder and that the tank had not been touched by cnyone.

Max returned to the office at 11:48 A.M.

I 14.

Max telephoned Sutts and a conference call was made to Carl St. Pierre.

The matter was discussed and it was agreed that tests j

would be performed by Clayton Environmental.

15.

At approximately 11:48 A.M. Dean called the office of James F.

Mcdonald, the President of GMC.. He was unable to speak with him and spoke to Jill Beattie in his office.

He informed her of the. day's events and requested her to acknowledge that the office of the President of GMC had been informed of the problem.

She agreed to have someone do so.

16.

Sheldon called Stokes Co. at Philadelphia at approximately 12: 30 P.M.

and he was advised they were not the same company as the manufacturer of the tank and valve.

He was informed that the original Stokes Co. had been purchased by F.M.C.

Corporation of Chicago.

At approximately 1 P,.M.

Sheldon called Dick Johnston at F.M.C.

Corporation, Chicago and was advised that they had purchased an interest in the Stokes Co. during the 1940's.

He was also informed that the Sharpless Stokes Division of Pennwalt, Philadelphia had also purchased an interest in the Stokes Co. and that Sharpless had purchased a pharmaceutical division which might have used the tank and valve.

Sheldon then called Clem O'Donnell, Sharpless' General Manager and was advised to call Hal Powell at the Stokes Division in Philadelphia which was the successor to Stokes Co.

Sheldon could not reach Powell so he telephone Paul Waltrich at approximately 3: 45 P.M. and was-advised the tank was on old vacuum furnace model 436.

There was no information or records available in connection with the tank.

He suggest Sheldon Continued.....

-,___.____w,-....-_.

't,-

r f call Mr. Herrmann who might have further information.

Sheldon called Mr. Herrmann who confirmed the furnace had only one alphatron head that contained radium and that it should not be opened.

He confirmed that there was only one head which was r a d i o a c t i v e,.

Mr. Herrmann telexed the specifications of the tank and valve to Sheldon.

Telex also confirmed that GMC was the original purchaser of the tank and valve.

17.

Powell called Sheldon at approximately 4:40 P.M. and informed him that Varian Corp. of Lexington, Massachusetts had made the i

valve but no longer manufactured them.

He advised that the valve l

contained a very low level of radioactive material which contained a source of alpha particles which were easy to stop.

He said that by holding a piece of paper in front of the valve you could stop the alpha particles from escaping.' He said that if further information was required Varian Corp. should be contacted.

18.

At approximately 1:52 P.M. Arnoske and Hill arrived at ZBL's y,a r d with testing equipment.

They did not use their testing equipment.

Hill claimed to be a nuclear engineer registered with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Arnoske claimed to be the chief environmental person at GMC on his particular shift.

.~

19.

Max, Ziff, Arnoske and Hill inspected the tank, valve and

,?

shredder at approximately 2:10 P.M.

They received a call on the i

radio that St. Pierre had arrived.

Max returned to the office to meet St. Pierre.

Ziff went on to the shredder with Arnoske and g

,t Hill for approximately 5 minutes before they returned to the o(fice to. join Max and St. Pierre.

i s

20.

St. Pierre and Mario Tramontozzi arrived at 2:25 P.M.

Mario l

is an Industrial Hygienist i.e.

a person trained to monitor, analyze different contaminants in the work place and saaess the impact on the employees.

They met Max.

They had two Radiation Exposure Rate measuring systems (geiger counters).

One was a Victoreen model 440 RFC Serial No. 2588 The second was a Ludium model 14C Serial No. PRO 14545.

These instruments are used to measure ionizing radiation in terms of exposure rate whose unit is the roentgen per time unit.

These instruments indicate in milliRoentgens per hour (mR/hr i.e.

1/1,000's of roentgens per hour).

21.

Max escorted St. Pierre and Mario outside to the rear of the office where the container in which the valve had been deposited was stored.

They examined the valve.

The housing was intact.

There were no punctures or leaks.

St. Pierre picked it up and placed it on a glove on top of the inverted pail in which it was stored.

A background reading using both meters was taken.

The background level ranged from.02 to.06 mR/hr.

The radiation intensity was measured at a distance of 12 inches from the container and a maximum' reading of 5.0 mR/hr was recorded.

A level of 2.0 mR/hr is considered safe enough to be left unattended eg in a hospital corridor.

Continued.....

t 22.

Arnoske and Hill returned from the yard and met St. Pierre and Mario.

Hill brought lead shielding with him from GMC.

Hill then wrapped the valve in the lead shielding.

There was not sufficient lead shielding and both ends of the valve were left exposed and there was a hole in the center.

The radiation intensity measurements were repeat -d at a distance of 12 inches from the container and a maximum reading of 2.2 mR/hr was measured immediately in front of the hole in the center of the lead shielding. This represents a reduction from 5.0 mR/hr to 2.2 mR/hr.

A piece of the lead shielding was removed and used te plug the hole in the center.

A further reading over the hole was then taken and measured 0.4 mR/hr.

In order to provide further shielding Alex Streicher, ZBL's manager of non-ferrous metals, supplied lead tire weights, a large plastic bag and a 45 gallon drum.

The lead wrapped valve wa's placed in the plastic bag and deposited in the middle of the 5 gallon pail and surrounded by the lead weights.

The pail was then placed in the 45 gallon drum.

Further readings were taken around the perimeter of the drum and they measured less than 1.0 mR/hr.

St. Pierre and Mario then

. proceeded to the shredder with Arnoske and Hill.

They surveyed the entire accessible exposed surface of the scrap which had been dumped out of box 6074 Radiation measurements within 1 inch of the entire exposed surface of the scrap pile indicated that all levels were of background values i.e.

.02 to.06 mR/hr which are within normal limits.

23.

St. Pierre and Mario then proceeded to torching area 1128 and l

examined the tank.

Radiation measurements were taken within 1 inch.of the entire exposed surface of the tank and they all measured at background levels i.e..,02 to.06 mR/hr.

24 Mario returned to the shredder.

The load of scrap was turned l

over and spread out so he could test the previously inaccessible j,

material.

The same background values were measured.

25.

St. Pierre returned to the office at approximately 3: 15 P.M.

Katzman then called Sutts and Sutts placed a conference call to Mike Paraschak at the MOE and explained the events of the day.

Arrangements were made for Sutta and Paraschak to meet with the others at ZBL's yard.

They arrived at ZBL's yard at approximately 3: 45 P.M.

26.

Sutts and Paraschak arrived at ZBL's yard at approximately 3: 45 P.M.

Dean took Paraschak on a tour of inspection which included the barrel containing the valve, the tank at torching area 1128, and the scrap at the shredder.

27.

Paraschak agreed the best course of action was for GMC to take back the valve.

Sutts expressed gratitude that the valve had n' t been processed through the shredder.

Arnoske wanted to know o

if Paraschak would permit the valve to be transported to the U.S.

Paraschak said that the valve should be transported to an approved waste management site in Canada.

Sutts emphasized that the valve Continued.....

y

- ~ - - -

-r-

~ - -

- - - ^

must be moved immediatelys Paraschak said that a new approved PCB waste management site at the GMC Transmission Plant at Windsor had been approved.

Paraschak agreed to permit GMC to remove the valve to GMC's Transmission Plant at Windsor in the trunk of a car.

He required that two cars escort the car carrying the valve, one car in front and the other at the rear.

Vanular said he was working on a press release in the event that the events of the day became public.

Sutts repeated that ZBL's yard was paralyzed and needed to be opened in the morning.

Paraschak said that ZBL would be l

permitted to open the yard for business the following morning provided the MOE received a written report from ZBL, a written report from Clayton indicating that there was no contamination at

[

the site and the Ministry of Labour gave its clearance.

He i

acknowledged that the valve had not been accepted by ZBL, was being rejected by ZBL, was in transit and therefore could be removed to GMC's Transmission Plant at Windsor.

t 28.

Hill carried the 5 gallon pail to Arnoske's compact car and placed it in the trunk.

Paraschak led the 3 car convoy.

Arnoske followed with the valve.

St. Pierre followed at the rear.

)

Paraschak was alone in his car.

Hill and Arnoske occupied the second car.

St. Pierre was alone in the third car.

They proceeded north on Howard Avenue to Tecumseh Road; east on Tecumseh Road to Walker Road; north on Walker Road to Hanna; vest on Hanna to Kildare; north on Kildare to the GMC Transmission I

Plant security office.

The GMC security guards directed the convoy to the PCB Waste Storage site inside the plant.

They

[

orrived at 5:35 P.M.

Hill removed the pail from the truck and placed it in the PCB storage area after it had been-unlocked by I

the security guards.

St. Pierre was advined that Paul Gignac would be his contact person at GMC.

He is the waste treatment cuperintendent.

St. Pierre then returned to ZBL's yard.

29 Max called Bob Pitrie of the Ministry of Labour.

Sutta spoke to Pitrie and advised him that the MOE required a clearance from the Ministry of Labour to permit ZBL's yard to open for business in the morning.

Pitrie said that his Ministry did not issue clearance certificates but because the valve had been removed and Clayton advised that there was no contamination, his inspection of the site could not reveal anything.

He stated he would not object to ZBL's plant opening for business in the morning.

We believe the,aforesaid is a detailed description of the incident.

We confirm that arrangements have been made for a representative of Clayton Environmental to continue inspecting all goods to be shipped by us on Thursday, the 12th of December, 1985 and will appreciate your confirming that you consent to our conducting business as usual as of this morning.

Yours very truly...

ZALEV BROTHERS LIMITED i-y ffw iiidney F. (Y/stzmah DELIVERED I

^

Mit.WMMit EiWiiithli'litiiiin(EMLKtimyr MigsfDR e tr;iWS 4fimeyi 400 H uron Church Road, Windsor, Ontario N9C 219. Telephone (519) 255-9797 IRIGURY OflHE DMRONE DEC 12 6 WINDSOR December 12, 1985 2

Gignac-Sutts 699-251 Goyeau Ave.

Windsor, Ontario N9A 6V4 Attention of:

Mr. C.N. Sutts, Q.C.

Clayton Job No. 5969-53

Dear Mr. Sutts:

.i This report, which has bee prepared for transmittal to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, summarizes our i

findings which confirm that there was no radioactive contamination at the Zalev Brothers ("ZBL") Limited Plant, i '

199 Grand Marais Road

East, Windsor, Ontario on i.

Dece.mber 11, 1985.

1.9 BACKGROUND

This study was conducted at the request of Mr.

C.N.

Sutts who contacted Dr.

C.C.

St. Pierre, P.Eng.,

Vice President, Clayton Environmental Consultants ("Clayton") at 19:45 am on December 11, 1985.

In a

telephone conversation, Mr.

Sutts indicated that a metal object with a radioactive label' had been received in a scrap shipment to the

(

yard. He requested Clayton services to determine if the object was radioactive, and, if so, to survey for possible contamination of the ZBL plantsite. Since a sensitive Geiger-Muller Counter had to be imported from Clayton's Southfield, Michigan

office, St. Pierre informed Mr. Sutts that Clayton would be at the ZBL site between 2 and 3 pm.

Affiliated Offices: Southfield, Michigan. Atlanta, Georgia. Edison, New Jersey. Los Angeles, Cafifornia a u. A s. u,s

... e----..

Llaylin invuonnuntil ConsultEnts,,Ltd.

'~

^-

2.9 ON-SITE SURVEY The on-site survey was conducted by C. St. Pierre and Mr.

Mario Tramontozzi, Industrial Hygienist from Claytons who arrived at the ZBL plant site at approximately 2:39 pm, December 11, 1985.

Two radiation rate exposure meters (Geiger. Counters) were employed in this study:

1.

Victoreen Model 449 RFC Serial No. 2588 2.

Ludlum Model 14C' Serial No. PRO 14545 Both instruments could read radiation emission rates

+

down to 9.995 mR/hr (milliRoentgens per hour).

St. Pierre and Tramontozzi WWre met by Mr. Max Zalev, Treasurer) 2BL who escorted them to the container, which held the radioactive labelled object, at the back of the ZBL office.

Both instruments were used to obtain background i

radiation levels which ranged from 9.92 to 8.96 l

mR/hr. The metal object was removed by St.

Pierre i?

and placed on top of the inverted 5 gallon pail which had held the metal object.

'The ' radiation intensity was measured at a distance of 12 inches from the container and a maximum reading of 5.9 mR/hr was recorded.

Messrs. Arnoske and Hill from General Motors Corporation,

Warren, Michigan joined Clayton personnel and indicated that they had brought lead shielding to wrap the container.

Mr. Hill advised that the' object was an Alphatron - a low pressure or vacuum measuring instrument.

The l

container was free from punctures or tears and l

appeared to be iri working condition except for damage to the electrical pin connector at one end.

St.

Pierre and Tramontozzi then repacked the radioactive instrument in the 5 gallon pail. It was wrapped with lead shielding, with the assistance of Mr. Hill, placed in a plastic bag and surrounded by lead tire weights provided by ZBL personnel. The 5 gallon container was then placed in a 45 gallon drum for temporary storage. Radiation readings around the perimeter of the drum were found to be less than 1 mR/hr.

5

Clayton Environmental Cons ltants, Ltd.

i l

St.

Pierre and Tramontozzi then proceeded to the shredder area where the exposed scrap surface was measured for radiation levels.

All readings were taken within 1 inch of the scrap and showed that only background levels (9.92 to 9.96 mR/hr) of radiation were present.

It was requested that the scrap be overturned and spread out so that the entire shipment could be surveyed.

The truck which was used to transport the waste was checked also and found to be free of contamination.

St.

Pierre and Tramontozzi then proceeded to the torching area 1128, examined the vacuum chamber and took radiation measurements within 1 inch of the entire exposed chamber surfaces. No radiation levels in excess of background levels wbre detected.

Mr. Tramontozzi returned to the shredder area and resurveyed the scrap shipment.

He found

'only radiation emission rates at background levels (0.92 -

9.96 mR/hr). St. Pierre proceeded to the ZBL office where he participated in a conference call to Mr.

M.

Paraschak, MOE at approximately 3:15 pm. At this time the Ministry was informed of the days events.

Mr. Tramontozzi was asked by ZBL to survey all ship-ments moved from the plant af ter 3:39 pm in order to confirm that no radiation contamination had occurred.

l St.

Pierre met with

• a group of ZBL wotkers at approximately 3:30 pm in a 2nd floor ZBL office to explain the findings and answer any questions. He 4

then met Mr.

Paraschak and participated in a

conference call with G.M.

legal counsel to define an acceptable course of action. It was agreed to remove the pressure gauge (radioactive device) to the Windsor G.M. Transmission Plant PCB storage site.

Before the transfer to the G.M.

site, St.

Pierre removed the gauge and obtained the following name plate information:

l l

Model 529 Alphatron i

499 microcuries of Radium 226 I

Radiation Intensity <3.4 mR/hr at 12 inches G.M. I.D. Number: RI-29434 t

NRC Equipment Corporation i

Newton, Mass.

l Patent No. 2497213 l

l

?-

l t

Clayton Environmentil Consultinis, Ltd.'

• e Photos were taken by ZBL personnel.and the radioactive device was repacked in the 5 gallon pail and placed in Mr. Aronoske's car trunk by Mr. Hill.

Mr. Paraschak led a 3 car convoy from the 2BL plant to the G.M.

Transmission Plant.

Paraschak was followed in a compact car by Aronoske and Hill (with the device) and then St. Pierre in the third car.

The. convoy reached the G.M.

PCB waste storage site at 5:35 pm when they were met by Plant Security and led to the storage site. The area was unlocked and the pail containing the radioactive gauge placed inside the G.M. site. Clayton's were advised that Mr. Paul Gignac, Waste Treatment Superintendent, would be the contact person.

3.9 CONCLUSION

S a

The labelled canister was identified as a

low pressure (vacuum)

Alphatron gauge containing 499 ucuries of Radium 226. Low level radiation was being emitted from the gau and it was packaged to minimize any exposure. ge j

The scrap received with the gauge, the vacuum chamber t

1 to which the gauge was attached and the truck used in t

transport were all found to be free of radioactive

. I contamination.

l-i Clayton personnel have inspected all goods shipped from the ZBL plant'after 3:30 pm of December 11, 1985 and will continue monitoring all shipments on December 12, 1985 (and December 13, 1985 if deemed necessary).

If you have any questions regarding this report please call me at (519) 255-9797 or (519) 253-4232 Ext. 2598.

1 Yours sincerely, c.L& 4.

Ca C. St. Pierre, Ph.D., P.Eng.

l Vice President l

e I

I I

l MEMORANDUM December 13, 1985, -

TO:

FILE FSON:

M. Paraschak, P. Eng.,

Sr. Environmental Officer, Abatement Section, Southwestern Region.*

RE:

RADIOACTIVE IONIEING VACUUM GUAGE on Wednesday, December 11, 1985 at 3:30 p.m., I i

received a call frost Mr. C. Sutts, as the legal representative of salev Brothers Limited reporting the discovery of a radioactive source.

l I was told that salev Brothers purchased a load of scrap metal from General Motors Technical Centre in Detroit.

It was brought to the salev Brothers sita in Windsor and unloaded.

Included in the scrap load was a process vessel approximately five feet high and five feet in diameter.

When the salev amployees started to dismantle this vessel they noted that a guage 3

• E 11h' long bad a radioactive l

warning symbol.

The employees immediately contacted their management.

salev Brothers contacted Mr. Sutta their lawyer, Clayton Environmental, their consultants, General Motors in Detroit and the Windsor office of ths Ministry of the Environment.

As soon as Mr. Sutts completed his call, I contacted F. Durham the assistant Director of our region advising him of the situation and insnediately left for the salev yard to personally assess the situation.

At the salev yard I was shown the vessel, the remaining scrap frost this specific load and the guage which by this time had been removed from the process vessel, wrapped in lead and placed in a 2 gallon pail.

Clayton Environmental had personnel on site.with a Geiger counter to check any and all equipment that had been in contact with this load.

I was advised that their checks indicated no radiation levels at any of the scrap, the vessel or equipment used in the transfer and. unloading.

The level of radiation emitted by the guage was less than two millizads.

Mr. Bill, the General Motors radiation specialist indicated that the emission level from this guage was about 1/50 of the radiation dose experienced in a chest x-ray.

4 FILE - Ealev December 13, 1985.

i A hazardous waste specialist Mr. John Arnoska of 1

General Motors was also present to determine the disposition of this radioactive guage.

He acknowledged that General Motors was prepared to maintain possession of this guage and to follow prescribed government procedures for its. disposal.

General Motors then made arrangements with the G.M. Transmission plant to accept the guage for interim security.

A decision was then made to transport the guage by the General Motors experts in their car accompanied by the Ministry of the Environment and Clayton Environmental.

The pail was taken to the certified PCB storage building and then placed in a 45 gallon drum and a radioactive label attached to this drum.

Mr. Durham and Mr. Luyt were then advised of the current status of the radioactive guage.

Mr. W. Skally of Zvy Rose Motel was then called to advise him of the situation.

I then contacted Canutec to get the 24 hour2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> number of the Atomic Energy Control Board.

Mr. Potvin of the AECB was told of our situation and indicated that in his opinion the situation was under control.

I requested that we be advised by the AECS of the proper procedures to resolve this situation.

On Thursday December 12, 1985 I contacted Ralph Eastman to give him all the information relating to this incident.

I also contacted Mr. Cohen a radiation specialist of the M.O.E. in Toronto.

Be felt that the situation was properly handled and that it was now the responsibility of the AECB.

Mr. Bob Gauthier of the Radioisotopes and Transpor-tation Division called me.

He was given the details of the incident and agreed that it was properly handled to this point and that they would assume the responsibility for the problem at this stage.

Mr. Gauthier was given the telephone numbers of Mr. Keith Campbell manager of the G. M. Transmission plant and Mr. Robert Bill the radiation expert from the General Motors Research Laboratories in Detroit nichigan.

After Mr. Gauthier's discussions with G.M. personnel, he called as to advise me of the results of his discussion.

A letter is being drafted which will advise G.M. Corporation of the proper procedures to follow to either dispose of the radioactive guage in Canada or export it back to.the United e

States.

An incident report is expected from Clayton Environmental representing Ialev Brothers and from General Motors Corporation.

The Windsor office received a report

FILE - Ealev December 13, 1985.

from Ealev Brothers and Clayton Environmental, cons'ultants respresenting Mr. Sutts and talev at 3:30 p.m. on December 12, 1985.

The reports were read and they have confirmed that the radioactivity was confined to the vacuum guage.

The yard at salevs and their equipment has been tested and found not to have any radiation levels above background.

Mr. Sutta office was then telephoned to advise him that the Ministry of the Environment has no objections to talev Brothers resuming normal operations.

)n M

MP/gl M. Paraschak, P. Eng.

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