Mexican police have found a truck containing radioactive material that was stolen as it was being transported from a hospital near Mexico City.
Thieves who removed the cobalt-60, which is used in hospitals to treat some cancer, from its protective container have been exposed to potentially life-threatening levels of radiation, a Mexican nuclear safety official told a local TV station.
The area around the stolen truck has been cordoned off and an operation to return the radioactive material to a sealed case was under way, the official added.
The theft of the truck – which was seized when its driver stopped at a petrol station in the town of Temascalapa, 20 miles north-east of Mexico City – sparked fears that the material could be used to make a "dirty bomb".
But Mexican officials said the criminals were probably unaware of the lorry's radioactive cargo. Truck hijacking is common in Mexico and the theft did not occur in a drug cartel stronghold. "Our suspicion is that they had no idea what they had stolen.
This is an area where robberies are common," said a spokesman for prosecutors.
Mexico's national nuclear safety commission published photographs of the cargo as it was being prepared for shipment, showing a reinforced case containing the medical device, which holds the radioactive material and which looks like part of a car axle.
The box was marked with the hospital's name and "radioactive materials". As well as its medical and industrial applications, experts say cobalt-60 can also be used in weaponry.
The IAEA, which has stepped up calls on member states to tighten security to prevent nuclear and radioactive materials from falling into the wrong hands, did not say how much cobalt-60 was in the lorry.Cobalt-60 is used inside a teletherapy device to treat cancer.
The most common radioactive isotope of the metal cobalt, it has many applications in industry and in radiotherapy. It is also used for industrial radiography to detect structural flaws in metal parts. Exposure to gamma radiation from cobalt-60 results in an increased risk of cancer.
"At the time the truck was stolen, the (radioactive) source was properly shielded. However, the source could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged," the IAEA said in a statement.
In 2000, three people died in Thailand after a cobalt-60 teletherapy unit was sold as scrap metal and ended up atn a junkyard. About 1,870 people living nearby were exposed to "some elevated level of radiation", according to the IAEA.
theguardian.com
Thieves who removed the cobalt-60, which is used in hospitals to treat some cancer, from its protective container have been exposed to potentially life-threatening levels of radiation, a Mexican nuclear safety official told a local TV station.
The area around the stolen truck has been cordoned off and an operation to return the radioactive material to a sealed case was under way, the official added.
The theft of the truck – which was seized when its driver stopped at a petrol station in the town of Temascalapa, 20 miles north-east of Mexico City – sparked fears that the material could be used to make a "dirty bomb".
But Mexican officials said the criminals were probably unaware of the lorry's radioactive cargo. Truck hijacking is common in Mexico and the theft did not occur in a drug cartel stronghold. "Our suspicion is that they had no idea what they had stolen.
This is an area where robberies are common," said a spokesman for prosecutors.
Mexico's national nuclear safety commission published photographs of the cargo as it was being prepared for shipment, showing a reinforced case containing the medical device, which holds the radioactive material and which looks like part of a car axle.
The box was marked with the hospital's name and "radioactive materials". As well as its medical and industrial applications, experts say cobalt-60 can also be used in weaponry.
The IAEA, which has stepped up calls on member states to tighten security to prevent nuclear and radioactive materials from falling into the wrong hands, did not say how much cobalt-60 was in the lorry.Cobalt-60 is used inside a teletherapy device to treat cancer.
The most common radioactive isotope of the metal cobalt, it has many applications in industry and in radiotherapy. It is also used for industrial radiography to detect structural flaws in metal parts. Exposure to gamma radiation from cobalt-60 results in an increased risk of cancer.
"At the time the truck was stolen, the (radioactive) source was properly shielded. However, the source could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged," the IAEA said in a statement.
In 2000, three people died in Thailand after a cobalt-60 teletherapy unit was sold as scrap metal and ended up atn a junkyard. About 1,870 people living nearby were exposed to "some elevated level of radiation", according to the IAEA.
theguardian.com
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