Radioactive discovery raises concern

By PHIL GARBER, Managing Editor and LIZ HAMLIN, Staff Writer

 

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. -Radioactive trash that was taken to the Morris County transfer station off Goldmine Road has underscored the possible need for installation of Geiger counters at such facilities.

 

Officials also are concerned that although the incident turned out to be relatively benign, it could have been much worse.

A load of garbage was trucked to the transfer station on Oct. 31 and then placed in a larger truck to transfer the waste to the Alliance Landfill in Taylor Borough Pa., near Scranton. Pa. Once there, a radiation detector sounded and authorities ordered the trash to be returned to the Mount Olive facility.

Emergency workers responded and after several days it was determined that the radioactivity was low level and naturally occurring from kiln rocks that had been placed in the trash from an unknown location. The rocks were removed for eventual disposal at a special hazardous waste landfill after the radioactivity had sufficiently diminished.

Local and county officials said the incident showed the state may have to devise better plans to detect and deal with radioactive materials in trash.

A 2000 law made Pennsylvania the first state in the U.S. to require installation of radiation detectors at all landfills and transfer stations. New Jersey does not require the equipment but a study is underway to determine if equipment is needed at the Mount Olive facility, according to Glenn Schweizer, director of the Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) that oversees the county's two trash transfer stations in Mount Olive and Parsippany.

Ronald Ruman, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said that without monitors, the landfills and transfer stations would have to rely on visual inspections.

"It's another way to safeguard landfills, incinerators and such," Ruman said.

He said the law requiring detectors was enacted in late 2000, before the 2001 terror attacks. But Ruman said a side benefit of the law is that it is another safeguard against a potential terror incident involving radioactive materials.

"If someone is trying to contaminate a building, one of the first places it might show is in the trash and we would find it," Ruman said.

A spokeswoman for the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) said the non-profit organization has not considered the need for radiation detectors at landfills. But Emily Rush, a PIRG energy advocated, said the issue dovetails with the group's concerns over transportation of radioactive water from nuclear power plants and other sources.

Schweizer said the Mount Olive transfer station has had one or two incidents of radioactive waste in the past 10 years. Typically, the waste is discovered as it is dumped on the transfer station floor. It is usually included in medical but other items that can include low-level radioactivity are smoke detectors and some computer equipment.

When discovered, items with low levels of radioactivity are brought to the rear of the transfer station where within s short time, the levels dissipate and are harmless, Schweizer said.

He said the latest incident involved radioactivity "barely above detectable limits" and that the rocks were included in a 20 ton load of garbage. The amount of rocks covered the bottom of a small pail, Schweizer said.

A health physicist from the Waste Management Inc. trash hauling company monitored and measured the material before it was removed.

Schweizer said a radioactivity monitor could be helpful although he said the many current laws governing disposal of radioactive waste seem to be working

But Schweizer said the state should consider setting up "hot spots" where radioactive materials can be brought and monitored. Special storage areas nearer to Pennsylvania also would eliminate the need to transport materials the long drive to Mount Olive.

Township Council President Bernhard Guenther also said the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) should have areas to isolate radioactive materials, away from the transfer station.

"When the landfill in Pennsylvania rejects a load due to radioactive readings, it is sent back to its source, in this case, the Mount Olive transfer station," Guenther wrote in a letter to state DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell. "As a host community, Mont Olive finds this completely unacceptable."

Guenther also said he was concerned that the DEP had a "somewhat cavalier" attitude about the radioactive material.

"It seems they (DEP) assumed it was a relatively "routine" low level occurrence that did not warrant their involvement at this time," Guenther wrote. "I believe that such an assumption should never be made."

Guenther also said the transfer station was allowed to open in the 1990s only to transfer trash from smaller to larger haulers. But he said the radioactive trash was kept at the station for several days before the radiation dissipated.

"The transfer station was never meant to store anything," said Guenther, who also is a board member of the MUA. "It violates their permit."

In the latest incident, The trash, tripped the warning meters at Alliance Landfill on Halloween day. The trailer carrying the load was returned to the Transfer Station on Nov. 3, and monitored for two days.

When there was no decrease in radiation levels after two days, the Morris County Hazardous Materials team, along with technicians from the state Department of Environmental Protection were called to the site on Thursday, Nov. 5.

The Township volunteer fire and rescue squads were also called out, to provide backup to the county and state teams.

According to Flanders Fire Chief Fred Detoro, Jr., Flanders Fire Company 1 and Rescue Squad, the Budd Lake Fire Company and Budd Lake First Aid Squad provided firefighters and emergency medical personnel at the scene at 3:15 p.m., Thursday.

The companies stood ready as specially trained and equipped technicians carefully unloaded the truck and sifted through the material, to find the source of the instrument readings.

"We practice responding to incidents like this and executed the pre-emergency plans we've developed," said Detoro. "Because we didn't know exactly what was in the truck, we had a lot of equipment and personnel ready to handle any haz-mat, fire, or medical event."

Detoro said the hazardous materials technicians and fire officials determined that the material was Thorium 232, a naturally occurring radioactive isotope with many industrial and energy-related uses.

On Friday, the experts found that the high radioactive readings were coming from rocks in the truck.

Detoro, who is also director of the township Office of Emergency Management, continued to stand by as the haz-mat teams sifted through the trash.

"At no time were people or property in danger," Detoro said.

Doug Fenichel, spokesman for the Flanders companies, said the crews were, "always happy when an event is resolved with no injuries and no damage."

Fire and rescue squads from Chester, Schooley's Mountain and Stanhope-Netcong assisted the township squads by standing by at the Budd Lake and Flanders locations.