Halliburton, Forward Air under investigation for lost americium
A large piece of oil well exploring equipment containing radioactive material was recently found four months after it was imported from Russia by Halliburton Energy Services, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported last week.
The shipment containing americium (Am-241) was lost en route to Halliburton’s Houston headquarters after arriving by air from Amsterdam and clearing customs at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Halliburton, which contracted with Forward Air Freight for the domestic transport, only reported the missing material Feb. 8, in violation of notification requirements.
The FBI found the shipment intact at the Forward Air facility in Boston, where it had been trucked after a Boston destination label was inadvertently placed on the package at Forward’s Newark, N.J., facility.
The loss raises questions about whether such shipments could fall into the hands of terrorists, who are known to be interested in attacking the United States with a “dirty bomb” or weapon of mass destruction. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the amount and type of material involved in the incident is of concern to the government in the post-Sept. 11, 2001 environment.
The low-radioactive metallic material in the container could cause radioactive damage to someone in who remained in prolonged proximity to the material, but the lost material was enclosed in a shielded cylinder and transported in a container.
A Halliburton spokeswoman blamed the freight forwarder, saying it never informed Halliburton about the missing material despite repeated inquiries, according to the Associated Press. She declined to identify the forwarder on security grounds.
The Greenville Sun, hometown paper of Greenville, Tenn.-based Forward Air, reported that Forward Air claimed it did not receive the americium shipment until Dec. 30 and had not been contacted until Feb. 9 by Halliburton’s customs broker. Forward Air said the shipment was always in its possession and located quickly.
Sheehan told American Shipper the NRC is investigating the matter, but said it is too early to know if any penalties will be issued. “We believe they should have given us notification on a more timely basis,” he said.
Regulations call for immediate notification if the radioactive source is lost in an unrestricted area where others might be exposed to it or within 30 days if is unaccounted for but still under control.
The incident “raises questions about their ability to track this material,” Sheehan said. Among the questions under review is what happened to the shipment between arrival on Oct. 9 and Dec. 30, when Forward Air claimed it was received.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a frequent critic of the NRC’s safety record, asked the NRC in a letter to move up the implementation of a radioactive source tracking system from 2007 that nuclear experts recommended in 2003.
“Don’t you think that if such a system requiring cradle-to-grave tracking of all radioactive sources had existed, locating these missing sources would have occurred much more quickly?”
The Boston Herald first reported the news of the lost, and found, radioactive material.