State Searches I-5 for Radioactive Vial of Potentially Deadly Cesium

State officials armed with Geiger counters searched a 500-mile stretch of Interstate 5 on Tuesday for a tiny vial containing potentially deadly radioactive material that was lost--or stolen--between Willows in Northern California and South Gate.

Anyone who finds the rectangular titanium container holding cesium-137 should not touch it, and instead contact the California Department of Health Services, police or the owner, Flo-Log Inc. of South Gate. The company is offering a $2,000 reward for its return.

The cesium-137 is in powder form and is encased in a vial 3 1/2 inches long and three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The vial is marked with warnings that it is radioactive.

The search for the metallic vial the size of a disposable lighter began Tuesday at an oil field east of Willows, where the cesium-137 was last seen in January but was not believed to be missing until last week. By today the search team, proceeding south, was expected to reach the Flo-Log offices in South Gate.

An executive at Flo-Log said he believes that the cesium-137 is at or near the oil field in Northern California. Donald Bunn, the Department of Health Services official in charge of radioactive material, said the material could have been stolen in South Gate.

“My theory is that somebody in the company has apparently tampered with the shipping container and removed the source. That’s just my theory,” Bunn said.

He raised the possibility that a disgruntled employee might have stolen the material. But Flo-Log executive Alan Cassiano discounted that theory and noted that the vial is worth only $1,500 to $2,000.

The Department of Health Services has directed Flo-Log to administer polygraph tests to its employees. Bunn raised the possibility that penalties could be imposed ranging from fines to license revocation.

“We’re not real sure just what happened to it,” Cassiano said. “We think it was an honest mistake. . . . We have not had any break-ins, nothing obvious. We have no employees who are bitter about anything.”

Cesium-137 is an isotope commonly used in medicine to treat certain cancers or in oil exploration, where it can tell researchers whether a well is plugged up by sand. It is a byproduct of the production of plutonium for nuclear bombs but is not used in the weapons, according to state health officials and spokesmen at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons are developed.

Nonetheless, cesium-137 can be deadly.

If someone were to clutch the titanium container that holds the cesium powder, skin burns would develop within 20 to 25 minutes, Bunn said.

Over a period of three or four days, anyone who had close contact with the vial would lose his or her hair. Anyone who remained in contact with the vial for seven to 10 days would probably die, Cassiano said.

If the capsule ruptured and the cesium-137 powder were inhaled or absorbed through the skin, severe illness would occur, followed by death.

On Tuesday, a specially equipped Flo-Log truck with Geiger counters and other sensing devices was slowly making its way south on I-5 searching for the vial.

The truck was traveling at 20 m.p.h., with CHP and Caltrans escorts. The Office of Emergency Services and state Department of Health Services are involved in the search.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Panorama City), who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee, called on Gov. Pete Wilson’s Administration to immediately open a second, more intensive search in Southern California and obtain additional sensing devices from the federal Department of Energy.

“The huge population base in the Los Angeles region means many more people (are) at risk of exposure here in the south,” Katz said in a letter to state health Director Molly Coye.

So far the state has not sought federal help nor has the Wilson Administration expanded the hunt in Southern California as Katz requested.

“We’re confident it’s going to be discovered,” a governor’s spokesman said. “We’re hopeful that no one gets injured. We’ll investigate to see what happened and see that it doesn’t happen again.”

At least 2,500 firms have state licenses to use and transport cesium and other radioactive isotopes for industrial and medical applications. Cesium is among the most common.

This is the second time since June that radioactive material used by industry has been reported missing in California. In June, a vial of radioactive iridium-192 fell on the Grapevine from a truck operated by another firm. That material was found four days later.

Bunn said Flo-Log, which has been licensed since 1983 to handle radioactive material, was most recently cited for a violation Feb. 10, when an employee was exposed to radioactive material. In a 1990 inspection, Flo-Log was cited for seven violations ranging from employee exposure to radioactive material to inadequate supervision of employees, Bunn said.

Flo-Log last used the missing cesium-137 on Jan. 20 to explore the depths of a well in an oil field operated by Mobile Oil about 30 miles east of the Glenn County town of Willows.

On Jan. 22., the cesium supposedly was loaded into a six-inch-long leaden protective container, called a pig, and placed in a locked box. The assembly was put into a safe bolted to the Flo-Log truck.

The material was driven to South Gate. There, the titanium case supposedly holding the cesium was placed in a locked room at Flo-Log. Then, last Tuesday, the box was taken to Santa Barbara where the cesium was to be used to chart an offshore well.

But on Feb. 17, when workers went to remove the titanium case from the six-inch leaden pig, the vial was missing.

Bunn said the company should have immediately contacted the Department of Health Services. But Cassiano said he delayed calling because one of the workers who might have known where the material was had been on vacation.

“We weren’t 100% sure it was missing,” Cassiano said.

What Is Cesium-137?

A container of potentially dangerous cesium-137 was lost last month somewhere between the Northern California community of Willows and Southern California. If found, it should not be handled. Authorities should be notified immediately.

Cesium-137 is one of 15 radioactive isotopes of cesium, a soft, silvery white metallic element. The isotope can be pressed into a pellet, which can crumble into a luminescent powder when touched.

Exposure: Prolonged exposure to cesium-137--through touching, eating or inhalation--is potentially lethal, causing painful burns, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea while destroying bone marrow. Brief exposures can increase the risk of cancer.

Uses: Cesium-137 is a powerful source of gamma radiation and is often used to treat cancer. Less common uses include food-preserving irradiation and industrial instrumentation. It is a byproduct of the production of plutonium for nuclear bombs.

Duration: Cesium-137 has a relatively long half-life; it takes at least three decades for half of the radioactive material to safely decay. Cesium-137 moves readily through soil and can enter the food chain through roots.

Accidents: In 1987, a Brazilian scrap dealer bought some cancer treatment equipment. He cracked open a vial of cesium-137. After neighbors touched the glowing powder, 34 were hospitalized and four died.

Compiled by Times staff writer Mark Stein