nuclear-news

Radiation violations by California’ s Caltrans’ Transportation Laboratory

The Public Eye: Caltrans cited for radiation violations with test
meters, Sacramento Bee, By Charles Piller, Jan. 6, 2013  Caltrans’
Transportation Laboratory, which houses the agency’s radiation-based
testing equipment, was cited by the California Department of Public
Health in October for numerous radiation handling and training
violations. Many of the transgressions, according to documents
released to The Bee late last month, had gone on for years and
involved devices used to test concrete in the foundations of some
freeway structures. The test meters, called gamma-gamma loggers, also
were implicated in problems reported by The Bee last year in which a
former state technician falsified data.

Work with the devices, stored and maintained in the “TransLab” on
Folsom Boulevard near California State University, Sacramento, was
halted from Oct. 3 to Oct. 19 while Caltrans corrected the
deficiencies. The fixes were approved by radiation-health officials.

The violations involved failures to “develop, document and implement a
radiation protection program” for the gamma-gamma loggers, which
contain cesium 137, a substance that emits hazardous gamma rays for
decades…..
Cesium 137 is widely used in industrial and medical settings. It has
received special attention as a possible ingredient for a terrorist
weapon designed to disperse radioactive materials over a wide area but
lacking the explosive force of a nuclear weapon.

The inspection was launched after a confidential source reported
training lapses to the Department of Public Health, Gore said.

Read more here:
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/06/5094735/caltrans-cited-for-radiation-violations.html#storylink=cpy

January 7, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA