Los Alamos National Laboratory's environmental surveillance and radiological emergency vehicle and the Co-60 incident

A 4-wheel drive van has been outfitted at Los Alamos for environmental surveillance and radiological emergencies. The van's capabilities were described at this conference in 1982. The rapid gamma search and spectral analysis capabilities were utilized in conjunction with the cobalt-60 (60Co) teletherapy source incident in Juarez, Mexico. Assistance was requested by the State of New Mexico (through DOE/Albuquerque Area Office) in January 1984 to perform initial in-situ isotopic identification of the contaminated steel that was first discovered in the United States by Low Alamos. The van's capabilities were again called upon in March 1984 to survey the New Mexico highways using the highly sensitive delta count rate monitoring system for 60Co pellets that may have been tracked into the state. This paper provides 1) setup and results of the surveys conducted with the van, 2) interactions with the press, and 3) an evaluation of the van's usefulness in such an emergency response