Radioactive waste held in secure location
Radioactive medical waste found in the trailer of a city sanitation transport truck Tuesday is being held in a secure location, Hot Springs City Manager Bill Burrough said Wednesday.
He said officials confirmed the Iodine 131 radioisotope was the source of radiation first detected Tuesday by sensors at the Saline County Regional Solid Waste Landfill in Bauxite. The reading led to the truck being turned away and quarantined at the Garland County Fairgrounds until the source of the radiation was determined.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation verified medical waste was the source after the Hot Springs Fire Department’s detection equipment identified it as possibly industrial in origin.
“It’s in a secure location behind a locked gate,” Burrough, noting that
the driver suffered no ill effects, said. “It has about an eight-day half-life. We’ll keep it there until after the first of the year. We’ll check it again, and if the level drops to where it can’t be detected we’ll take it back to the landfill.”
Burrough, who worked in private and public sector solid waste operations prior to becoming a city administrator, said he suspected the radiation came from a diaper worn by someone receiving radiation treatment. His suspicion can’t be confirmed until radiation dissipates to a level that allows for closer inspection, he said.
The trailer that hauled the waste is being held at the fire department’s Vernel Street training grounds, Burrough said. It will be kept there until after the first of the year and put back into service when no radiation is detected.
The trailer is one of several that travels between the city’s transfer station on Scott Street and the Saline County landfill. The latter is where the city and Garland County have been taking their degradable waste since the start of October. The last two trucks that fed the transport trailer were working residential routes, Burrough said, noting the radioactive item was toward the rear of the trailer.
The Saline County site is a Class 1 nonhazardous solid waste landfill permitted by the state to accept degradable waste. Garland County’s Class 4 Cedar Glades Landfill can only accept construction and demolition debris, appliances, furniture and other bulky items.
The city and county’s waste disposal agreement with BFI Systems of Arkansas, a subsidiary of the Saline County landfill’s owner, Arizona-based Republic Services, Inc., allows BFI to refuse any unacceptable load. Disposal fees of $19.25 per ton are charged for acceptable loads.
The city and county sent their garbage to the Two Pines Landfill owned and operated by Waste Management of Arkansas Inc. in North Little Rock prior to the seven-year agreement with Republic that took effect in October.