OAKLAND, CA—A feared possible radiation leak from materials on a truck Wednesday morning at an East Oakland business turned out to be a false alarm, according to officials.
The possible leak was reported about 10:30 a.m. at a scrap-metal and specialty-metal processing business in the 8900 block of Railroad Avenue, prompting a shutdown of streets in the area, but no evacuations.
Firefighters were told a truck load of what was thought to be inactive radiation materials had been brought to the facility for recycling. But there were indications that some of the materials were still emanating radiation resulting in the fire department response, made up of 18 firefighters aboard two engines.
Fire department spokesman Michael Hunt said the truck had traveled from Washington state, and added that a decontamination zone had been set up and the department’s hazardous materials specialists were in the process of setting up a strategy before they began taking measurements.
According to video shared by Hunt, a commercial truck driver said radiation sensors at the facility scale initially registered radiation traces on the truck’s load.
“When I drove on to the scale, the radiation sensors went off,” the driver said in part. “The lady in the office said ‘please back off the scale, and do it again to make sure.’ I did it again they just went off again. At that point, they said we’re going to unload your truck and then check every bale individually.”
But after each bale was checked individually, there was no sign of leaking radiation and the nearby streets were reopened at around 1 p.m.
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