Related: Accident closes Thunderbolts Way
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The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has confirmed it attended the truck accident on the Thunderbolts Way near Gloucester due to a radioactive substance.
Around 4.45pm on Tuesday, November 8, emergency services were called to Thunderbolts Way, near Giro following reports of a truck crash.
NSW Police advise the truck hit an embankment and three canisters fell onto the road resulting in the closure of the road until around 2:00am the following morning (November 9).
A spokesperson from the EPA said the truck was carrying eight industrial gauges, each containing Cobalt 60 – a radioactive substance.
The truck was travelling from Queensland to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in Sydney, when the driver lost control near the Giro intersection.
All the gauges were recovered at the scene and remained intact. Radiation monitoring was undertaken and the site has been declared safe.
A spokesperson for the ANSTO said the material in question was spent Cobalt-60 gauges, which are used by industry to perform density measurements. It was being transported by a private company back to their facility at Lucas Heights, as they had originally manufactured it, for safe storage.
Police have advised the driver was a 29-year-old woman, who was treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries before being taken to Gloucester Soldiers Memorial Hospital.
Emergency services confirmed the driver was not exposed to any radiation.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews and specialist Hazmat units, and NSW Police attended the accident.
The transport of radioactive material is regulated by the Code of Practice for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (2014). The Code establishes uniform requirements for the transport of radioactive material in Australia.
The EPA will further investigate the transportation to confirm that all requirements were being followed.