DEP Investigating Radioactive Kit Found in East Goshen

According to a press release, authorities from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection recently found amounts of radium-226 in trash believed to have originated from the Hershey's Mill development in .

The radioactive material was discovered on Jan. 19, when a load of construction debris set off radiation alarms at Waste Management Inc.'s Norristown transfer station.

“The radioactive material may have been contained in the kit for more than 80 years,” Bureau Director David Allard said in a press release. “The metal box likely came from a basement, an attic or a collector’s stash. Anyone who tampered with it or stored it for a long time may have been exposed to high levels of radiation.”

The kit contained antique surgical equipment as well as four capsules inside a small lead safe marked “Radium Chemical Co., Inc.”  Authorites believe the four capsules to be the source of the radium-226.

“Although the capsules do not appear to be leaking, we believe that someone could have had direct contact with these sources of radium-226,” Allard said in a press release. “The radioactive radium they contain is about five times the amount found in modern medical sources, and we are concerned about the health of anyone who may have handled them.”

According to DEP, the radioactive material identified as approximately one curie of radium-226. Exposure to one curie of radium-226 is equivalent to having more than 100 CT scans at once, and it has the potential to create skin burns within a few hours of contact.