Radioactive material discovered in dumpster at county landfill
By Amy Robinson
Farmer Staff Writer
Last Thursday, April 23, while Dakota Dumpsters was unloading a Greg’s Welding dumpster at the McKenzie County Landfill, a radioactive alarm sounded, immediately alerting Landfill personnel.
Because of the serious nature of the incident and the fact that a monitor had detected radioactive material, McKenzie County Emergency Services and the Department of Health were notified and responded to the site.
“The dumpster came from Greg’s Welding,” said Karolin Rockvoy, McKenzie County Emergency Services manager. “But it was a dumpster that was only supposed to have siding and roofing material from Greg’s Welding in it. Someone had dumped a bag in their dumpster and Greg’s Welding employees had no clue it was in there. It was some sort of bag of sand with radioactive stuff inside.”
Rockvoy said she was concerned and that local businesses should be cautious about unknown individuals dumping things in their dumpsters.
Once the appropriate agencies and departments were notified, the material was taken and disposed of at Secure Energy Services, which is an oilfield landfill, where hazardous material is and should be disposed of properly, according to Rockvoy.