
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 11, 1990                   TAG: 9003112683
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RADIOACTIVE PELLET CAUSES WORLD SEARCH

An international search is under way for stevedores, truckers and warehouse workers who may have been exposed to a tiny pellet of radioactive material discovered in cargo shipped from South Korea through Los Angeles to the East Coast.

"There is no need for panic, but there certainly is reason for concern," Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Karl Abraham said Saturday. People handling the shipping crate in which the pellet was found "could have received significant exposure," he added.

Abraham said that there was no danger to the general public.

The globe-girdling pellet of iridium - about the size of a pencil eraser - was found Thursday in Burlington, Mass., in a crate holding 14 specialized containers used to transport intensely radioactive materials. The containers were being returned empty from South Korea to the Massachusetts supplier, Abraham said.

No one knows how the pellet got outside the protective liner of the container, he said. The pellets are used in X-ray cameras that scan the welds in structural steel to detect flaws, Abraham said.

Abraham could not say how many workers may have been exposed. Dozens of federal, state and local officials across the country and in South Korea are searching for the workers and truckers who may have come in contact the the small but heavy crate, he said.

"If people were no closer than 3 or 4 feet, for no longer than a couple of hours, then the risk is relatively minor," Abraham said. "If somebody was closer for a long period of time, for a week or two, then there could be enough radiation exposure to cause illness."

by CNB