Medical radioactive material truck ‘stolen in Mexico’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25212648
Mexican police are hunting for the truck and its contents
The IAEA did not give details on how much radioactive material was in the vehicle when it was seized, but offered to assist Mexican authorities.
4 December 2013
A truck carrying medical radioactive material has been stolen in Mexico, the UN’s nuclear watchdog says.
Mexico told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the truck was carrying a “dangerous radioactive source” used for cancer treatments when it was stolen on Monday.
The radiotherapy source was being taken from a hospital in the northern city of Tijuana to a waste storage centre.
It was stolen near the capital, Mexico City.
Mexico’s Nuclear Security Commission said that at the time of the theft, the cobalt-60 teletherapy source was “properly shielded”.
But the commission warned it could be “extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged”.
Local media reported that the truck, a 2.5-tonne Volkswagen Worker, was stolen by armed men at a petrol station in Tepojaco, on the outskirts of Mexico City on Monday morning.
The theft took place at a petrol stationBBC world affairs correspondent Rajesh Mirchandani says Cobalt-60 could theoretically be used in a so-called “dirty bomb” – an explosive device that could spread radioactive material over a wide area – although there is no official suggestion this was the purpose of the theft.
Mexican police are currently conducting a search for the truck and its contents and have issued a press release to alert the public to its potential dangers.
Experts have long warned about the danger posed by radioactive material used for medical treatments and research in hospitals.
The IAEA did not give details on how much radioactive material was in the vehicle when it was seized, but offered to assist Mexican authorities.
“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 statement said.
More than 100 incidents of thefts and other unauthorised activities involving nuclear and radioactive material are reported to the IAEA each year.
2 Comments »
Leave a Reply
1.This Month
Saskatchewan First Nations Targeted for Untested Small Modular Nuclear Reactors: Candyce Paul  http://nuclearhotseat.com/2020/09/03/480-saskatchewan-first-nations-targeted-for-untested-small-modular-nuclear-reactors-candyce-paul/?fbclid=IwAR3CtbqMu3BPrHUOCAoUueMqfSD0un5NNp2WkVmv7X7Zb1pkaMBtulSYsF8
by Libbe HaLevy  | Sep 3, 2020
Join my fight to free Julian Assange and stop US extradition
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/julianassange/Â Â
of the week
The Santa Susana Nuclear Catastrophe Continues
https://www.enviroreporter.com/2020/08/nasas-last-stand-investigation/
Committee for Future Generations
 Inter-Church Uranium Committee Educational Co-operative (ICUCEC)
 https://climatetippingpoints.info/
Antarctica Nuclear Power Plant Cancer Disaster on Day 1 Says Navy Shipmen
Antarctica nuclear reactor caused many cancers. Several countries insisted the US to clean up the nuclear waste via treaty. 5 On Your Side Investigation in March 2011 revealed at least “438 malfunctions from 1964 through 1972.” Our report found “leaking water surrounding the reactor” as well as “hairline cracks in the reactor liner” and prompted two federal hearings that upheld our report’s findings. The plant was eventually shut down and dismantled in 1972, but in the decades that followed, repeated cancer claims for service-connected disability filed by veterans were routinely turned down or ignored by the Veterans Administration. “There is no question that the water was contaminated,” said Wilborn, who was granted a service-connected disability after a hearing before the Board of Veterans Appeals. The appeals board also found that Wilborn’ s exposure was “grossly underestimated” and “evidence strongly suggests that others may have been exposed to higher levels” as well. Source Ron Reagan http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-ne…
McMurdo has attempted to improve environmental management and waste removal over the past decade in order to adhere to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed October 4, 1991, and entered into force January 14, 1998. This agreement prevents development and provides for the protection of the Antarctic environment through five specific annexes on marine pollution, fauna, and flora, environmental impact assessments, waste management, and protected areas. It prohibits all activities relating to mineral resources except scientific. A new waste treatment facility was built at McMurdo in 2003, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo…
-
Archives
- September 2020 (262)
- August 2020 (353)
- July 2020 (281)
- June 2020 (295)
- May 2020 (251)
- April 2020 (274)
- March 2020 (309)
- February 2020 (223)
- January 2020 (258)
- December 2019 (251)
- November 2019 (269)
- October 2019 (262)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
thanks for the extra info on the medical source Roger..
As to DU rounds paragraph, you couldnt tell us if they did use DU as they have everything marked top secret. claims are all we have i am afraid.. did UNEP get dose advice from the icrp and unscear?? its obvious that the usa nuclear mob are in cahoots with the chinese nuclear corporations as well as others to cover up the info on anything nuclear… as evidence
japan – secrets law
uk – threat from decommissioning corporations to withdraw co-operation from the government (DECC) unless they did what the corporations say..
USA – NSA and loads of letters like prism etc
Russia – ask rosatom or bellona
the evidence is mounting
you will hear it on this blog first..
🙂
peace
“The health risk depends on time of exposure and distance to the pellets, said Dr. Fred Mettler, a University of New Mexico’s radiology professor and a U.S. representative to the U.N. on radiation safety.
“If you hold the source in your hand for five or six or eight minutes you are probably going to get enough radiation to your whole body that may well kill you,” he said. “But if somebody is across the street, they are not going to enough to really make them sick.””
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=248757479
h/t http://health.phys.iit.edu/archives/2013-December/039198.html