Teaneck laboratory is fined for losing uranium shipment

northjersey.com ^ | Thursday, November 3, 2005 | By ALEX NUSSBAUM

[Calpernia]

A Teaneck laboratory must pay a $3,250 federal fine for losing a tiny shipment of enriched uranium last spring, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday.

The fine against Ledoux & Co. comes after the lab accidentally tossed 3.3 ounces of nuclear material in the trash, setting off a federal and state search that stretched to landfills around the mid-Atlantic.

(snip)

The Alfred Avenue lab reported the uranium-235 missing in mid-April, after receiving a drum filled with seven canisters of the nuclear fuel bound for a university reactor. Ledoux had been hired to test the material's purity.

An NRC investigation found a lab worker had left one canister in the drum, which was tossed into trash eventually taken to a landfill.

(snip)

[Calpernia]

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http://1010wins.com/siteSearch/local_story_109154445.html

Uranium Missing From New Jersey Lab

Apr 19, 2005 3:43 pm US/Eastern

(1010 WINS) (TEANECK, N.J.) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was investigating why a small amount of enriched uranium powder was missing from a Teaneck laboratory.

The laboratory, LeDoux & Co., reported 3.3 grams of powdered uranium and aluminum missing last Wednesday, according to the commission.

Investigators believe the powder was thrown in the trash and is probably in a landfill in Pennsylvania or New York.

An NRC spokesman said Tuesday that the amount of radioactive material is too small to harm anyone or to make a so-called dirty bomb.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said it is still important to make sure such material is tracked properly.

``Whenever this material is transported or stored at a facility there needs to be very tight controls in place,'' Sheehan said.

BWX Technologies of Lynchburg, Va., shipped the uranium in a tamper-safe canister to LeDoux in late March and received verbal confirmation from the lab that the material was received.

LeDoux realized the canister was missing last week and contacted the NRC the next day.

Sheehan said the NRC hasn't ruled out the possibility of some kind of fine or enforcement action against LeDoux.

NRC inspectors in the past have found only minor safety problems at the lab, Sheehan said.

The lab had its license suspended for 10 days in 1994 for failing to set up a $125,000 for future decommissioning of the Teaneck facility.

[Calpernia]

Ping

[End Times Sentinel]

I know how that feels!  One summer after highschool I was working construction and I accidentally threw away the forman's half eaten sandwich.  A whole afternoon of lugging bricks.

Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)