Gamma unit stolen at ore dressing factory in Chita region (Russia)

Itar-tass ^ | Oct 31, 2001 | Yuri Khots

[grimalkin]

KRASNOYARSK, Oct 31, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- A 80-kilogram gamma-source unit with radioactive Cesium-137 has been stolen at the Priargunsk ore-dressing factory in Chita region, an officer at the Krasnoyarsk-based regional centre of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

The disappearance of the unit, which is used for measuring ore content, was discovered on Tuesday night. The power of the nuclear radiation of Cesium is 50 roentgen per hour with a half-life period of 30 years.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted, and police conduct a search for the missing gamma-source unit.

[ccmay]

The disappearance of the unit, which is used for measuring ore content, was discovered on Tuesday night. The power of the nuclear radiation of Cesium is 50 roentgen per hour with a half-life period of 30 years.

This is roughly 25,000 times more gamma radiation than safe occupational exposure. If you came into contact with this device for an hour you would get the equivalent of about 1000 chest X-rays.

If these idiots take it out of any lead shielding so they can carry it around easier, they'll be dead in a matter of days. But it would not kill them so quickly that they couldn't travel with it, say to Chechnya or Afghanistan...

-ccm

[fella]

I hope they calibrated their dosimeters and put on their film badges before they picked it up or else they'll be in trouble with the Radiation Safety Officer.

[ThirdMate]

Priargunsk: 240 miles ESE of Chita on Russia-China Border (Siberia-Manchuria) 50.52 N, 119.10 E