A physics teacher was taking inventory of chemicals in a storage room at Tri-City High School when she noticed a container that looked a little strange.
She peered closer and worried that it was radioactive. It turns out, it was.
"She was very alert about realizing that it could be a hazard," said Randy Dwyer, principal of the Central Illinois school.
School labs have used low-level radioactive materials safely for decades; experts say they're critical in teaching physics and chemistry. Sealed samples - often leftovers from past experiments - frequently are saved in closets and storerooms.
But as teachers retire and containers get shoved aside to make way for new samples, it's easy for schools to lose track of what they've got, or to store them incorrectly, said Sandra West, an associate biology professor at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.
"It isn't that schools shouldn't have them (radioactive materials), but it shouldn't be a surprise that they have these materials in inventory," West said.
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