Radioactive!!!

Happy Monday. It’s not even lunch time and you’ve already got radioactive waste spilled inside one of your trailers. But it gets worse - the spill happened at a top secret government facility, your tractor-trailer has been impounded, and nobody’s talking.

It all started when your driver picked up a load of cardboard boxes containing dry radioactive soil and protective clothing at a government research lab. At least that’s what was supposed to be in the boxes. Somehow one of the boxes wasn’t dry - there was enough liquid to rot out the bottom and sides of the box, and the cardboard collapsed - dousing your trailer with radioactive waste. When the truck arrived at its destination, the unloading crew discovered the leak and impounded the truck, trailer, and driver.

What do you do when you don’t know what the law says about radioactive spills, and when the climate of secrecy at the shipper and receiver is a stone wall that prevents you from knowing what’s going on? How can you be sure that the trailer has been decontaminated and is safe for future use? Will you get the trailer back? Have you made the proper notifications? Your management is getting nervous, and you can’t get any answers - you need help, fast.

The solution: one call to Cura Emergency Services (CES). This fleet manager had a spill management partnership with CES in place before this spill, so he was prepared to handle the storm of confusion and conflicting information. At CES, an experienced Incident Manager was assigned to the case within minutes of notification.

Armed with the Code of Federal Regulations, the Incident Manager cut through the wall of silence and regulatory haze surrounding the spill. First, the Incident Manager brought a CES chemist into the project to find out what really happened. The CES scientist discussed the load with another scientist at the lab that shipped the material. Using words like "radionuclide", "specific activity", and "isotopic composition", the two scientists reviewed the chemical and radioactive composition of the load to decide what cleanup needed to be done, and how to determine when the trailer was clean. The shipper was relieved that the transporter had retained someone who understood the chemistry and health physics of the release, and was willing to release detailed information about the load and the spill.

Meanwhile, the Incident Manager was working to keep the transporter out of trouble with the environmental regulators. Federal law says that even suspected radioactive releases must be reported to the National Response Center in Washington, D.C. The Incident Manager got cleanup information from the CES scientist and then made the appropriate Federal and State notifications to protect the transporter.

Back on site, the government contractor had removed the load, repackaged the spilled material, and was preparing to decontaminate the floor and walls of the trailer. The transporter still needed to know three things - how clean was clean enough, who would guarantee that the trailer wasn’t a radioactive nightmare, and when would the trailer be released.

The Incident Manager and the CES scientist discussed releasing the trailer with the shipper, and determined that a simple radiation scan would certify the trailer for a return to service. The trailer was scanned for residual radiation and it was good news - no residual radiation. The trailer was released to the driver, the scientist at the shipper agreed to send a report and the radiation scan results to the Incident Manager, and the case was closed.

This incident shows how a pre-arranged spill management partnership with CES can protect your interests during a difficult situation. On this spill, CES was able to understand the release and get fast answers to tough questions that affected the transporter. When you’re facing a challenging spill, it’s comforting to know that CES has the experienced scientists, incident managers, and regulatory specialists to meet the challenge. At CES, we have a commitment to understanding all parts of a hazmat incident - the regulations, science, and management.