Funny what you find when your go searching for radiological fruit........
Summary:
Fruit flies spread contamination from a diversion pit located at the Hanford Site's 200 East Area to nearby buildings and to refuse that was then unknowingly transported off site to the City of Richland Landfill. Extensive radiological surveys and testing, including bioassays, showed that no personnel were contaminated.
Details:
On September 10, 1998, Diversion Pit 241-ER-152 was sprayed with a glycerin/monosaccharide -based fixative to reduce the likelihood of contamination spread during subsequent planned work in that pit. Similar products are used at other sites in the DOE Complex.
On September 15, 1998, while the pit was open to the environment for jumper manipulation, fruit flies were attracted to the fixative, flew into the pit, and laid eggs. The adult flies and their eggs became contaminated. Some fruit flies, probably from the next generation, later followed odors of food and refuse to a nearby temporary construction office, MO-967, where they deposited contamination in the lunchroom, in hallways, on light switches, and in a nearby garbage can and a dumpster.
At 7:45 a.m. on Monday, September 28, 1998, the dumpster at MO-967 was emptied one day ahead of its normal schedule and its contents were taken to the Richland landfill, the principal disposal site for uncontaminated Hanford Site solid refuse. At 8:45 a.m. that same day, routine radiological surveys revealed contamination in MO-967 and a nearby dumpster. A fact-finding meeting determined that contamination might have been transported to the landfill. Subsequent surveys detected contamination in two Site garbage trucks, two mobile office trailers, five other buildings, a government van, several other locations, and on the personal belongings of two workers. Contamination was later found on refuse from the Hanford Site in the city landfill. Environmental permits were obtained to move the contaminated waste back onto the Hanford Site, where it was placed in low-level waste burial grounds.
Analysis:
An investigation team worked aggressively to determine the source of contamination. Fruit flies were suspected early in the incident because of the locations of the initial contamination and because a radiological control technician observed a speck of contamination "fly away." Flying- insect traps were set to confirm fruit flies as the transport vector. In one extreme instance approximately 260 nanocuries of strontium-90 were found on nine captured fruit flies.
http://www.hanford.gov/lessons/sitell/ll99/199901.htm
Time flys like an arrow.
Fruit flies like strontium-90...