Potentially Lethal Shipment Found

By ERICA NOONAN Associated Press Writer

BOSTON (AP) - A Federal Express package with a potentially lethal radioactive metal disappeared for 10 days before it turned up safely in England - to the relief of government inspectors and crews that had to patrol highways with radiation detectors.

The package contained 200 pounds of supplies from a Massachusetts technology company to a construction company in Toluca, Mexico. Inside was a cylinder of iridium, which is used to X-ray pipeline welds and aircraft parts and in chemotherapy treatment for cancer.

Because of the isotope's high radioactivity, anyone who opened the package unwittingly could be exposed to the equivalent of ``thousands and thousands of X-rays'' and die quickly, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The package was shipped on April 16 by AEA Technology QSA of Burlington and addressed to a construction company in Toluca, Mexico. On April 21, the Mexican company told AEA it had received the bill of lading, but no package.

That put the NRC on alert. Health crews outside Boston and the FedEx hub of Memphis, Tenn., patrolled highways with radiation detectors looking for leaks.

Finally, the package was found Monday, unopened, in a hangar in a small airport outside of London. FedEx spokesman Jess Bunn said Tuesday the company was still trying to figure out how the package got there.

Earlier Stories

Iridium Shipment Disappears Briefly (April 27)

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