CBRN event in Netherlands on Thu 22nd June 2006

On June 22, 2006 the Inspectorate was notified by a scrap metal dealer that they had a radiation alarm of their portal detector. Using handheld survey equipment they measured an enhanced radiation level at the surface of a 40 ft container of 100 microsieverts per hour. The container was unloaded by a firm specialised in tracing and recovering of radioactive sources in scrap metal. An object, made of an unknown metal, which was expected to be a collimator, with in it a cesium-137 source was found. This 'pseudo-source holder' contained no shutter mechanisms, nor lifting connector. There was no identification tag and no warning sign for radioactivity on the surface of it either.The 'source holder' weighs about 6 kilograms, is 12 centimeters long and has a diameter of 12 centimeters.The dose rate in the centre of the radiation-bundle at 1 meter distance of the source holder was about 350 microsieverts per hour. The activity of the source was approximately 4,0 GBq. The annex contains pictures of the recovered source. It is most likely that the enclosure of the source was damaged, because inside the container there was a spot contaminated by cesium-137.The scrapload was traded by Emre Metal, Istanbul, Turkey. The container identification number is INBU 476685-8. The container was shipped on June 17, 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey, and transported by MSC Alyssa. After arrival in Rotterdam, the container was transported to Jewometaal on June 22, 2006. The origin of the source could not be determined. The source has been transported to COVRA, the radioactive waste facility in the Netherlands.