SEMO RADIATION CAUGHT EVERYONE BY SURPRISE

In February, inspectors from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission discovered radioactive material had contaminated Magill Hall at Southeast Missouri State University. The university didn't share that information with the public until late June.

School officials say they kept the information to themselves because they thought contamination of the material americium-241, a man-made element was confined to a small, secure area. After a hazardous cleanup team was brought in June, it was discovered that the contamination was more widespread and that as many as 140 people may have been exposed over the years. Only then did the university disclose the problem.

Since that time, school officials have been very open concerning the situation at Magill. It hasn't been easy to provide a lot of information about the americium-241. The university was unaware the americium and two other radioactive elements were even stored at Magill, which houses science labs. No one knows where it came from, how long it was there -- decades is the best guess -- and what it had been used for. When it comes to potentially dangerous materials, the university is now likely to provide better oversight.

There are still concerns, of course, about who might potentially have been exposed to the material since it got out of its protective container.

The seriousness of the contamination is yet to be fully determined. The university could have acted more swiftly and more publicly early on in dealing with any potential health hazard.