JOC Staff | Mar 01, 2013 8:30AM EST
Work at the Maher Terminals in in the Port of New York and New Jersey was halted Thursday afternoon by a radiation scare that U.S. Customs and Border Protection said was triggered by metal wire in a container loaded with wastepaper.
Emergency personnel converged on the terminal, which was locked down for about two hours after a container showed a positive reading for Caesium-137, a radioactive isotope formed during nuclear fission, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.
Customs said that it took control of the container after the box was declared safe and moved it to a secure location.