SAUGUS — Radioactive material was detected earlier this month at the waste-to-energy facility operated by WIN Waste Innovations, formerly known as Wheelabrator, Plant Manager Chris Bourque told the Board of Health Wednesday night.
The finding was discussed during an update on operations of the facility that was provided by WIN Waste Operations at a Board of Health meeting.
Board of Health member Bill Heffernan mentioned that there was an occurrence where a truck brought in material to the facility that was “flagged” and asked Pete Dicecco of the company to comment publicly on the matter. This was the second incident that Heffernan could remember during his time on the board, he said.
Dicecco admitted that he wasn’t aware of a “radioactive load” coming in, but Bourque was able to give more clarification. Bourque said that a truck entered the facility and caught the attention of WIN’s meters.
“We checked the load and it read a low level of radiation,” said Bourque. “We followed a procedure and made the required notifications and the state brought in a radiologist and examined the load and found that the low-level radiation was iodine from some medical treatment that somehow got in the waste stream. (The) radiologist isolated that, secured it, and removed it from (the) site.”
Heffernan was pleased to hear that the protocols and the fail-safes that WIN has set up are working.
“It’s nice to see what you have in place does function as anticipated and that we’re able to catch these inappropriate loads,” said Heffernan. “I know you guys (WIN) process a lot of material from different communities, some that may not have the same safeguards as Saugus or neighboring communities. It’s nice to know that when something does get in there, before you guys even bring it to the plant, the safeguards are tripping and you guys are notifying the correct authorities.”
After the meeting, Bourque told The Item that on July 5, WIN discovered and isolated a low level of radioactive material in a load of residential waste that was delivered to the facility.
“Trace amounts of radioactive material are occasionally found in household waste, often in the form of material used in medical treatments,” he said. “The material was immediately detected by sensors at the entrance to the facility established for this purpose and isolated. We followed protocol by notifying the appropriate authorities, including the Saugus Health Department and Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which provided resources to remove the material from the facility.”
