LINCOLN CITY — State environmental investigators are trying to determine what caused a radiation alarm this week on a load of debris from the demolition of the old Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital here.
Samaritan Health Services last month completed construction of a new, $42 million hospital adjacent to the old hospital. Demolition of the old hospital started March 30, with much of the debris being taken to a waste transfer station near Corvallis.
On Tuesday the transfer station recorded radiation coming from a truck hauling hospital debris. Station employees notified the hospital at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, which sent out a campus-wide alert for workers to avoid the demolition area.
Samaritan said in a news release Thursday that said a state hazardous materials team searched the demolition area Tuesday afternoon and found no evidence of radiation.
During the incident patients and staff remained inside with patient care and other work proceeding as normal, the hospital said. People needing to leave the hospital were allowed to do so. Staff were allowed to leave work at their regularly scheduled times and parents were allowed to pick up their children from the nearby Samaritan Early Learning Center as usual.
