The City has discovered radio-active material in Beaconvale, after an urgent distress call was made from a scrapyard in the area on Tuesday afternoon.

While offloading a tipper truck, the scrapyard staff came across a canister labeled as hazardous radio-active material.

The City immediately despatched Traffic Services to secure the surrounding scene, while the Fire and Rescue Hazmat team also arrived on scene.

Upon arrival, Fire and Rescue technicians followed necessary protocols for dealing with radio-active materials. Using remote-controlled sensor technology, they were able to get closer and assess the potential risk.

The MMC of Safety and Security JP Smith says their fears were confirmed, with the suspicious container emitting high levels of gamma rays, which is evidence of decaying radio-active waste within the container.

The SAPS Bomb Squad was then brought to the scene.

With our firefighters well prepared for any sort of nuclear disaster incident, they used a variety of equipment to safeguard the scene and to identify the radio active material.

The radio-active material was discovered to be that of Iridium 192, a manmade isotope of Iridium, a component commonly used in guages for industrial radiography, to detect flaws in metal components.

Irridium 192 is believed to become harmless after around 150 days, but still requires the correct methods of disposal, as regulated.

At this moment, the protective lead casing of the fuel rods has been confirmed as breached and is emitting high levels of radiation.

SAPS and Nersa have been scene and will attempt to locate the original source of the fuel rods, using the serial numbers attached.

The scene has been made safe and the radio-active material secured. Today, the radio-active waste will be removed using specially designed robotics.

Speaking to the Chief Fire Officer Clinton Manuel, he expressed his appreciation on the professional manner the firefighter hazmat technicians responded and handled the situation.

We are extremely fortunate to have a municipal Fire and Rescue service that is so well equipped and that has regularly invested in the required specialized training and skills. Our service responds to a wide variety of emergency situations every single day, but nothing can be more harrowing, having to respond to a call of exposed nuclear radio-active waste. Their professionalism displayed, using their equipment, technology and training, allows every resident to rest assured, Cape Town really is the best Fire and Rescue Service in South Africa.

ALSO READ: COCT’s efforts to curb illegal connections