HALIFAX – Canada’s nuclear safety agency says cylinders carrying radioactive material fell during unloading in Halifax because one end of a container they were in wasn’t properly secured to a crane.
Four steel cylinders encased in concrete fell into the cargo hold of a ship during unloading at the Cerescorp container terminal on March 13.
Andre Regimbald of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says two connectors on the crane let go and the container then swung down and snapped off.
The container plummeted about seven metres into the cargo hold with the cylinders still bolted to it.
The vice-president of Cerescorp, the operator of the Fairview Cove terminal, says the company is still investigating what went wrong.
Calvin Whidden says the company has ruled out a problem with the crane itself, leaving open the possibility that the container’s attachment points were deformed or the crane operator made an error.
He says the company is consulting with engineers to see how changes to the attachment systems might prevent a similar incident in the future.
The commission has said there were no spills or radiation leakage when the cylinders containing granular uranium hexafluoride fell.
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