Cargo Business Newswire

Friday, March 28, 2014

Watchdog agency: Radioactive cargo not properly secured to crane

Canada's nuclear safety agency has determined that cylinders carrying radioactive material were dropped while being unloaded at the port in Halifax because one end of a shipping container they were in wasn't properly secured to the crane.

Four steel cylinders encased in concrete and each weighing 4.5 tons fell into the cargo hold of a ship during unloading at the Cerescorp container terminal on March 13.

"What happened is two of the lifting points on one side ... had not been properly anchored so all of 18,000 kilograms of weight was being supported by only one side," said Andre Regimbald, director general of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

Evidently two connectors on one side of the crane let go and the container then swung down and snapped off.

The agency said there were no spills or radiation leakage when the cylinders, which contained granular uranium hexafluoride, fell.

Regimbald said the regulatory system worked because the cylinders met standards for packaging and survived the fall intact.

For more of the CTV News story: ctvnews.ca