Radioactive Material Lost With “Foam Pig”

A “foam pig” containing a small amount of radioactive material has gone missing in the Gulf of Mexico, Bloomberg reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 5, 2006).

The British oil firm BP Plc uses the pig maintain an underwater pipeline in the gulf.  The device carries a silver wire containing tantalum 182, which is used to track its location in the pipeline.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says tantalum 182 has a sub-category 3 radiation level.  That indicates that the material is “very unlikely” to inflict permanent harm on people.

BP lost control of the device Saturday, and it rose from 5,000 feet underwater to the surface of the gulf, Bloomberg reported.  The pig is expected to be “difficult to find because it will be floating just above or below the surface” and ultimately will submerge again, according to BP Pipelines of North America.

“We carried out a search and we are continuing to work on how best to locate the pig,” said BP spokesman Neil Chapman (Sonja Franklin, Bloomberg, Feb. 12).

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