No radioactive threat posed to public after fire, says institute

THE company at the centre of a radioactive scare in the Millfield Industrial complex moved last year.

The Radiological Protection Institute, which licenses companies using radioactive material, said there was no radioactive threat to the public in the Blackpool area. “The company were involved in industrial radiography, which is used to take images of wells and pipes. But they moved out in February 2002,” a spokesman said.

The name of the company has not been released.

The fire services received an anonymous telephone call during Thursday’s enormous fire, which warned them of the potential threat.

Cork City Council had a record of the company holding radioactive materials but did not know if they were still in the building.

Firefighters did not enter the suspect building but successfully prevented it from being damaged by the fire. Civil Defence volunteers used Geiger counters to monitor any possible radiation but none was detected.

The roof of the Refond textile plant, which was almost completely destroyed by the fire, was mainly made up of slate tiles but also contained some asbestos material. Parts of asbestos sheeting were seen breaking off by firefighters as they tried to control the blaze. The level of danger depends on the degree of fragmentation of the asbestos, according to Professor James Heffron of the UCC biochemistry department. “The asbestos is still only broken sheets. Asbestos is only a threat if it becomes powdered,” he said.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency are both investigating the potential threat.

Local residents are most likely to suffer irritation from carbon monoxide released by the burning, Prof Heffron said. “I would advise people to stay away from the site and to keep their windows shut for several days.”