Abby Lancour, of the Vermont State Hazardous Materials Response Team, middle, gets helpf removing her protective boots from the team's Chief Patrick McLaughlin, left, and member Jay Moody, right, after working to determine there was no dangerous radiation from an unidentified substance found at the Hartford Transfer Center on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. The HAZMAT team, Vermont National Guard Civil Support Team, Vermont State Police, and mutual aid from the Keene fire department were called to the transfer center by Hartford Fire Chief Scott Cooney at about 10:30 a.m. when a container labeled as radioactive was discovered by workers cleaning up from last Saturday’s household hazardous waste collection. McLaughlin said the material was determined to be past its half-life and no longer dangerous. “It wasn’t any more radiological than a piece of granite,” he said. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. VALLEY NEWs PHOTOGRAPHS — James M. Patterson

Sgt. Jordan Vorse, left, and Sgt. Brock Adams, right, of the Vermont National Guard Civil Support Team, use a radiological isotope identifier to verify the safety of a substance labeled as radioactive and found at the Hartford (Vt.) Transfer Center on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. The substance was also tested by the Vermont State HAZMAT team and the Vermont State Police. All three agencies got the same response from their equipment that the substance was cesium 134 past its half-life, presenting no more radiation than background levels encountered in daily life. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

A vial containing a substance found at the transfer center in Hartford, Vt., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, and labeled to be radioactive, was found to be safe by officials from the state of Vermont. Francis O'Neill, of the Vermont Department of Health bagged collected the vial for safe disposal. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. James M. Patterson