Halliburton Loses Radioactive Rod, The National Guard Is Called In to Help

By Eyder Peralta

Published September 19, 2012 at 5:19 PM EDT

You thought this happened only to Homer Simpson.

But, no, it happened in real life to oilfield workers in Texas: During the course of their work, they lost a radioactive rod. That's the story our friends at State Impact Texas are telling this afternoon.

We'll let you click over to get the full story about how even the National Guard has been enlisted, but here are the basics:

"Sometime last Monday, September 11, a three-man team of Halliburton oilfield workers lost a radioactive rod used in hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." The crew believes it was lost in an area of about 130 square miles, somewhere between a well site in Pecos and the crew's destination south of Odessa. The tool was in the back of their truck, and at some point they noticed that the truck's lock wasn't in place (it was in the back of the truck) and the rod was missing. They went back to Pecos to see if it had been left at the drilling site, but it wasn't there."