Accident Clogs Ventura Freeway : Commute: Boxes of hospital radioactive waste fall on the road. None of the containers leak.

An early-morning collision in Ventura spilled radioactive-waste containers onto the Ventura Freeway, closing the northbound lanes of the county’s principal roadway for 5 1/2 hours and backing up traffic for two miles, authorities said.

No one was exposed to radioactivity, though several boxes of low-level radioactive hospital waste spilled from a pickup truck that was struck head-on by a sedan that veered across the freeway divider and into northbound traffic, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Nicole C. Cramer, 23, of Camarillo was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving after being treated for a broken arm and wrist at Ventura County Medical Center, CHP Officer Staci Morse said.

The driver of the pickup--Frank S. Acosta, 54, of Downey--was treated for cuts and released. Acosta is a courier for a company that transports radioactive waste generated by hospital X-ray machines, she said.

The collision involving Cramer’s Subaru coupe and Acosta’s Toyota pickup occurred shortly after the CHP received a call at 3:27 a.m. about a car going the wrong direction on the Ventura Freeway, Morse said.

Northbound freeway traffic was stalled at the junction of the Ventura and Ojai freeways from 3:50 until 9:20 a.m. while a Ventura Fire Department hazardous materials team checked the accident for contamination and cleaned up debris, she said.

Toxics specialists found that none of the radioactive waste had leaked from metal cylinders packed into larger boxes, Morse said.

The accident delayed some commuters as much as 45 minutes before they were routed through downtown Ventura and around the accident, Caltrans Ventura manager Dave Servaes said.

“When I first saw (the vehicles), I thought for sure there was a fatality,” Servaes said. “They were mashed together pretty bad. It looked like the engine of the Subaru was all the way back in the front seat.”

All three northbound lanes of the freeway were closed from California Street to West Main Street exits from 3:50 to 8 a.m. Caltrans opened two northbound lanes at 8 a.m. and the third just after 9 a.m. Southbound traffic was not affected.