Why Is This Cargo Container Emitting So Much Radiation?

[n2doc]

By Andrew Curry


On July 13, 2010, this cargo container arrived in Genoa, Italy. It was emitting torrents of radiation. No one knew what was inside. And no one knew what to do next.
Photo: Georgio Barrera


Enzo Montagna pulled his Fiat station wagon into Voltri Terminal Europa, a sprawling port on the western edge of Genoa, on Italy’s Ligurian coast, and flashed his ID at the guard at the terminal’s gate. As he did every time he came to the port, Montagna hooked a left and parked in a small lot near the low-slung customs office.

In Italy, all cargo containers carrying scrap metal get checked for radiation, by hand, before they’re allowed off the docks. At Voltri, this job falls to Montagna, a 49-year-old independent consultant certified as an expert in radiation detection by the Italian government. By the time he arrived that morning, longshoremen had gathered eleven 20-foot-long, 8-foot-wide containers from across the terminal, relying on manifests to determine which ones needed to be scanned. The boxes were lined up in two neat rows near the terminal’s entrance.

Montagna, dressed in a polo shirt, jeans, and an orange safety vest, grabbed his radiation monitor — a tan Ludlum Model 3 about the size of a toaster. He plugged in a heavy sensor wand and set the device on the ground 20 yards away from the containers. The Model 3 emits a high-pitched beep every time it detects a radioactive particle; Montagna turned it on, and the meter’s needle swung hard to the right, burying itself past the maximum reading of 500,000 counts per minute. Instead of its usual staccato chirps, the machine was whining continuously and frantically.

That didn’t worry Montagna. The port’s humid air sometimes corroded his monitor’s connections. He turned the detector off, swapped out the cable between the sensor wand and the box using a spare he kept in his pocket, and turned the device back on. It started wailing again. Montagna was being bathed in radiation.

more

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_radioactivecargo/

[slackmaster]

1. Good read.

:kick:

[City Lights]

2. Very interesting...thanks...and rec'd. eom

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. It was interesting, wasn't it?

[Ian David]

3. Let's get Geraldo Rivera to open it. n/t

[dtexdem]

4. And how many containers have "scrap" like this but don't get effectively screened?

And in what foundries might little radioactive tidbits like this get "processed"? Who gets exposed to the intermediate bits, and possibly to final products contaminated by highly-radioactive metals?

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. That's a scary thought.

[kestrel91316]

5. Fascinating story. THIS sort of thing is why we need government and

functioning regulatory authorities and laws and regulations.

Hey, unfetteredfreemarketcapitalists, I wonder how well the Sacred Free Market would have handled this?

[bigmonkey]

11. Environmental damage is one fatally weak point of libertarianism.

All damage has to be post-facto, and then counteracted only by changing behavior. That won't help a child fatally poisoned by an unscrupulous industrialist.

[JoeyT]

21. Ground it up and mixed it into baby food, probably.

Then launched torrents of lawsuits at anyone that spoke of it. Problem solved!

[Eric J in MN]

6. Shows a problem with food irradiation.

How is a food irradiation machine disposed of?

[Octafish]

7. Anyone got a forwarding address for Container Bob?

From the OP:

It was hardly the first fishy shipment to pass through Gioia Tauro. Famously, just six weeks after 9/11, workers there heard noises coming from inside a container being transshipped to Nova Scotia via Rotterdam. Inside, police found an Egyptian-born Canadian carrying a Canadian passport, a satellite phone, a cell phone, a laptop, cameras, maps, and security passes to airports in Canada, Thailand, and Egypt. The container’s interior was outfitted with a bed, a water supply, a heater, and a toilet. Nicknamed Container Bob, the man posted bail in Italian court and was never seen again.

[jtuck004]

14. I wonder if there is a market for containers that can be opened from the inside

in an emergency? ;)

[Turbineguy]

10. Interesting. Thanks.

Gioia Tauro was is a newly built (late 1990's) container port right across from Sicily at the northern entrance to the Messina Straights. The terminal was originally built of concrete, supplied of course by the Mafia. In short order the concrete broke up and trucks hauling containers raised dust storms. The port was rebuilt using mostly pavers in the road ways.

People in that part of Italy are very nice and speak a dialect that is very Greek sounding.

The practice of mislabeling container contents and weights is rife in the shipping industry as shipping costs are determined by commodity and weight. It's important that contents be correctly declared because certain items cannot be placed near other items and some things have to be carried on deck rather than in a closed and not well-ventilated hold. Obviously correct weight is important with regard to vessel stability.

It was not mentioned in the article, but the ship's crew often ignorant of container contents, may be subjected to chemicals and radiation for several weeks while such a box is on board.

Normally a full manifest is no longer carried, only the classified hazardous materials are listed on the "traveler".

Ships are a great dumping ground for hazardous waste. Hazardous waste may be mixed in with fuel as well as placed into containers. For a period in the late nineties ships engineers were finding small glass beads (the kind that are used for nuclear waste) clogging fuel strainers.

[Poll_Blind]

12. Amazing article. nt

PB

[Prometheus Bound]

13. Wow! One hour in Fukushima = 4,000 chest X-rays

One of the stats that caught my eye.

[Agony]

15. At least it didn't get made into radioactive table legs this time...

or re-bar... like happened in Mexico 30,000 radioactive table legs destined for Canadian restaurants have all been recovered? Surrrre they have... Check your metal tables people!
http://books.google.com/books?id=74PgZAHPw38C&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=radioactive+table+legs&source=bl&ots=lICiwwd2x0&sig=nbwx5iFJC52boiIlD9391VgAVcM&hl=en&ei=8RuzTrWZN8bh0QHLzb3ABA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CIABEOgBMAY#v=onepage&q=radioactive%20table%20legs&f=false

Cheerio as always!
Agony

[ThoughtCriminal]

16. Was it in Japan recently? - nm

[left on green only]

17. I wonder what has become of Enzo Montagna, the person who's detector originally discovered it?

Does he glow in the dark when he arrives home at night these days?

[begin_within]

20. That's what I was wondering.

There's no follow-up in the story regarding the health of those who came close enough to be exposed to radiation. Maybe it will take years for the effects to show up in their health.

[Turbineguy]

18. And now exploding containers as well....

Photos were taken in Vietnam of one of the five refrigerated containers that exploded at a port there last Friday. Three dock workers were killed and 16 were injured. An Oakland longshoreman got hold of the photos, but fears losing his job if he speaks on camera. He learned that some of the same types of containers had arrived here in Oakland Monday morning.

more:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8413677

[hedgehog]

19. Every scrap yard in this country and every remelt facility has

radiation detectors scanning every truck load of scrap that enters. We've got ass holes out there stealing manholes right off the street and ripping the coils out of air conditioners and bringing the scrap in to sell. There are a lot of machines out there with a small piece of radioactive metal inside. All it takes is for one piece to get into the system to cause real problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident

[uncle ray]

22. scrap yards do not all have radiation detectors.n/t.

[hedgehog]

23. You're right, but they should!

Many scrap metal yards and metal processing facilities monitor scrap shipments for radioactive contamination. However, monitoring does not guarantee detection of sources. They may be shielded by the scrap metal or by their own casings.

http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML0710/ML071080173.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/source-reduction-management/scrapmetal.html#scrapyards

[Sirveri]

24. reminds me of that episode of house.

Kid used to work at a scrap yard with his dad, and his dad found a cool looking pendant piece of junk. Gave it to the kid to remind him where he came from. Turned out to be a highly radioactive source used for testing pipes. They wouldn't even let us walk into that part of the plant during testing when we had to get our radiographic work done.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. Fascinating article.

I am wondering..there was not much discussion of the container contaminating the ship it was on,
the other containers around it on the ship and the pier.