Bury News
Radiation scare after boy finds package
9:16am Thursday 16th February 2012
A park was closed for several hours when a package containing a source of radiation was discovered by a 13-year-old boy.
Firefighters, police officers and paramedics were called to Openshaw Park, in Rochdale Road, at 5.10pm last Wednesday to investigate the suspect package.
It was a small sealed plastic container, about the size of a type D torch battery, and was marked with a radiation warning trefoil.
The park was closed and a 45-metre cordon set up in the area surrounding the package while it was removed.
Firefighters wearing chemical protection suits checked the container and surrounding area for radioactivity using specialist monitoring equipment, with no readings registering.
Further examination revealed the package contained a “sealed, low-powered radioactive source”, said a fire service spokesman.
It was identified as a small component normally found in smoke detectors which contained a small source of americium 241, a radioactive chemical.
Gary Manock, watch commander at Bury Fire Station, said: “There was no risk to people using the park. With radiation, you can’t be too safe so we had to take the appropriate precautions.
“We don’t know how the radioactive source got there. It must have been put there deliberately. I can’t say it was a prank, because I don’t know that, but it is not normal to find something like that in a park.”
He also praised the 13-year-old boy who found the package in the park. Tests showed no residue had leaked onto him when he picked it up.
Mr Manock said: “The young boy who found it acted very sensibly. He saw the box, recognised that it contained a radiation source and called the fire service immediately.”