Posted on 04/13/2021 9:37:43 AM PDT by Heartlander
Direct contact could "prove fatal."
A truck carrying highly radioactive materials has been stolen by armed criminals in central Mexico, The Independent reports.
The Mexican government is now warning that anybody who comes in close contact with its deadly payload could be risking their lives.
The individuals got away with an industrial inspection equipment truck during an armed heist on Sunday in the town of Teoloyucan. Included in the bounty is a QSA Delta 800 gamma ray projector that holds radioactive iridium-192, selenium-75 and ytterbium-169 isotopes — a highly unusual bounty for any hijacker.
It’s still unclear why they targeted the truck in question, but during a previous robbery involving radioactive waste, Mexican authorities feared the ingredients may be used to build a dirty bomb.
Contact with the contents of the truck, authorities emphasized, can be fatal.
“At 10am today, there was a robbery of radiographic equipment reported,” reads a warning issued by the National Commission for Nuclear Security and Safeguarding, as quoted by the Independent. “If the radioactive material is extracted from the container, is moved, or makes direct contact with any persons handling it, permanent injury can occur in minutes.”
“In case of making direct contact with the source over the course of hours or days, the effects can prove fatal,” the warning reads.
Even just being 30 meters away could cause radiation poisoning, according to the Commission.
Members of the Commission for National Civil Protection (CNPC) have been dispatched across the central region of Mexico. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the truck may now be in Mexico City.
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, robberies have been on the rise in Mexico, with increasing reports of medical oxygen tanks being hijacked.
Nuclear materials, though, are an unusual target for any robbery. Plenty of questions remain, with the most obvious one being: what the hell are they planning to do with it? If history is anything to go by — believe it or not, this isn’t the first time hijackers got away with radioactive materials in the country — cartels may be trying to use it as part of a dirty bomb, as The Independent reports. But it’s still unclear if that’s the case here as well.
Thanks
In English what the Commission probably meant was "radiation sickness" (e.g., nausea, diarrhea, blisters) from a significant dose from the gamma rays of the radioactive material if taken out of the shielded container.
Radiation poisoning would occur if the radioactive material were inhaled or ingested by a person.
With the Keystone Kops at the border, I wonder why it didn’t happen sooner!!
In Brazil, too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goiânia_accident
Ir 192 has a half-life of 241 years and emits 1.5 MeV betas and 168 KeV gammas, Se75 has a half life of about 120 days and emits 3 MeV betas, Yb169 has a half life of 32 days and emits 2.3 MeV betas.
Just so you all will know what to look for:
https://www.qsa-global.com/880-series-gamma-ray-source-projectors
“You can buy these devices online.”
You need a state or federal license to own one. I was responsible for a smaller source once and the paperwork is considerable. Plus training and inspections, and my source was not portable. Every couple years NRC and the state rad inspector would show up to see if it was still there, not leaking, and only authorized trained people were using it.
I just did a quick calculation, 150 Curies of Ir-192 in open air, no shielding, would deliver a dose rate of .7 R/hour at a distance of 10 meters.
You’d have to stand there quite a while before you started to get radiation sickness. Inhaling dust or smoke from a dirty bomb would be a real threat, though.
Sounds like medical equipment. Not what you typically guard with armed guards, not what you can build a nuke with, but controlled items and nasty radioactive dust if released in a dirty bomb.
You can Google it. No doubt licensing is involved but once possessed the NRC is not traveling with the device to make certain its precise location and ownership.
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