10-year-old finds "radioactive, poisonous" object on Delaware beach

A 10-year-old girl found a small, rust-coloured disk on Delaware's Broadkill Beach that was eventually discovered to be marked with the words "RADIOACTIVE POISON INSIDE", triggering a major hazardous materials response.

According to an article published by Delaware Online on 12 August, Everleigh Webb, aged 10, found the small metal object while beachcombing with her mother, believing it was part of a ship or piping system.

The disc was less than 5cm in diameter, a little over 1cm thick and "was not heavy", according to Delaware Online. After some online research, the family believed the object to be a paperweight and took it back to the beach house where they were spending their holiday.

A few days later, however, Everleigh's mother, Elizabeth, decided to clean the disc of a little bit rust, subsequently revealing an engraving in the metal that read "RADIOACTIVE POISON INSIDE" and "DISPOSE OF BY BURIAL. U.S. RADIUM CORP." The Webbs called the emergency services, and "things escalated very quickly," Elizabeth Webb said.

The first tests conducted on the disc gave different readings, however the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control spokesman Michael Globetti confirmed "trace-level radiation" was detected from the object. The item was then put in a five-gallon bucket and taken it away for disposal.

Although Globetti didn't identity the object, Elizabeth Webb's online research led her to believe that it was a World War II-era US Navy deck marker. According to the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity website, the markers were used to illuminate ship decks, attached via two screws. The markers produced light because of the radium-226 inside of them. Radium-226 is an isotope of radium, which is a radioactive chemical element.