Bloomberg reported that Halliburton Co is scouring a 130 mile swath of West Texas oil fields for a lost seven inch cylinder with radioactive material used when drilling natural gas wells by hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
According to an NRC incident report, pickup trucks outfitted with detection gear retraced the route of a vehicle that carried the radioactive rod before it was reported missing on September 11th 2012. The trucks drove at 10 miles an hour between Pecos, where the device was previously used on a well and Odessa without finding the unit.
Mr Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said that "It's not something that produces radiation in an extremely dangerous form. But it's best for people to stay back, 20 or 25 feet if they find a cylinder marked radioactive do not handle."
Mr Van Deusen said that oil field service companies lower the radioactive units into wells to let workers identify places to break apart rock for a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, which frees trapped oil and natural gas. While the loss of such a probe occurs from time to time, it has been years since a device with americium 241 beryllium, the material in Halliburton's device, was misplaced in Texas.
Ms Maureen Conley, an agency spokeswoman, said that loss of a device of this type hasn't been reported to the NRC within at least the last five years. She said the material would have to be in someone’s possession for several hours for it to be considered harmful. The agency was notified because it works with states to regulate use of radioactive materials.
Police sergeant Mr Jerry Millan said that Halliburton called the Reeves County sheriff's office in Pecos after discovering the item was missing. He added that "They told us they had lost a radioactive rod. I've worked in the oil fields, so I knew what it was. We’ve been assisting with the search."
Halliburton said in a statement that the seven inch stainless steel cylinder is about an inch in diameter and marked with the radiation warning symbol.
According to the NRC report using information from the state agency, Halliburton notified the health department that workers discovered a lock on the container used to transport the radioactive device was missing, along with the unit, after driving a truck to a well south of Odessa from a site near Pecos, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) away. The company is offering a reward and is working with local law enforcement, the highway patrol and health officials in the search, the company said.
Source - Bloomberg
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