BOSTON (WHDH) – Radioactive material is getting lost in Massachusetts and it’s ending up where you least expect it. Now, some are worried it could end up in the wrong hands. 7’s Dave Puglisi investigates.
Containers labeled radioactive dumped behind a home. A radioactive shipment sitting unclaimed at Logan Airport. A nuclear gauge for sale at a local flea market, and radioactive equipment from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant lost.
For people living near the now closed plant, the concern isn’t about what is missing but who might find it.
“What if it got into the hands of a terrorist?” asked Plymouth resident Joanne Corrigan.
Pilgrim shuttered in 2019 but nearby residents worry about where its radioactive material could end up.
“Radioactive is radioactive,” said Plymouth resident Joanne Geary, “and from my understanding you don’t need a lot of it to be effective.”
Residents’ fear has turned into anger as they question how safe they really are.
Plymouth resident Jennifer Bennett said, “It’s got all these things that are potentially really bad for your health.”
7 Investigates uncovered documents that show seven items containing radioactive materials disappeared from Pilgrim last year. Holtec, the company responsible for dismantling the plant has located six of them after months of searching.
But the last one has not been found.
In Massachusetts, the responsibility for missing materials falls on the Radiation Control Program.
Nicholas Roth, of the Nuclear Threat Initiative said, “Having the appropriate mechanisms to make sure materials are being disposed of correctly is an incredibly important part of the remediation component.”
Experts say these materials are safe when used as intended — in the wrong hands they could become a dirty bomb, an explosive that spreads radioactive material.
And Pilgrim isn’t the only place where radioactive material has gone missing.
7 Investigates has documents showing items with low levels of…