One common use is making radio isotopes for medical use. They use commerical linear accelerators.
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Posted on 07/11/2010 3:18:00 AM PDT by Cindy
SNIPPET: "South African police say they have arrested four men in the capital, Pretoria, for attempting to sell what they describe as an industrial nuclear device to undercover officers.
The men - all South Africans - were arrested Friday at a Pretoria gas station, where they attempted to sell the device for about $6 million.
Police say Interpol was also involved in the operation."
(Excerpt) Read more at 1.voanews.com ...
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20100710085544493C308461
“Four bust in ‘dirty bomb’ sale sting”
July 10 2010 at 10:44AM
SNIPPET: “A policeman said the source of the Caesium-137 was unknown and investigators were going all out to locate the larger device. “We don’t know what these suspects’ intentions were and we need to find the device quickly,” he said.
Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA spokeswoman, Chantal Janneker, confirmed the material was Caesium-137, and said there had been no contamination in the area.
Hawks spokesman, Colonel Musa Zondi, said the four were arrested as they tried to sell the stolen material which was a sample of a device which was to be sold for R45 million.”
Remind me not to buy nuclear devices from guys at
gas stations.
“Yo Bro, check it. real thing, nuke bling,
six mill and I throw in the lead box”.
Stories like this always beg the question - “They stopped this one, but how many similar have gone undetected?”
The Good Guys have to be perfect *every* time, while the Evildoers only have to get lucky once or twice....
Yep.
What exactly is an “industrial nuclear device”? And what industry uses them? Something isn’t right in this story... I think.
One common use is making radio isotopes for medical use. They use commerical linear accelerators.
Cross field amplifiers, at type of radio frequency amplifier uses atomic isotopes.
The chemical industry uses nuclear devices as level transmitters.The LT gives a reading to the control room operator to monitor levels in tanks, vessels, etc..They are pretty common.
Super accurate atomic clocks is one application for Caesium.
Probably thought they were selling to muzzies who would somehow make a dirty bomb and sneak it into the USA thru Mexico.
I saw the headline and immediately went looking for its description as part of a medical tool.
Unfortunately we can expect this story to be posted a dozen times today by people in various states of panic.
Like it or not, these devices are very common and in many parts of the world they aren’t disposed of properly. Fortunately, the greatest danger they pose is accidental exposure like in brazil some years ago.
Alarmism! Fear mongering! In the Press?
I’m shocked, shocked, I tell you!
There have been accidents in the past, and lost sources. In Mexico, a hospital received a cobalt radiotherapy machine as a donation. They had no one to use it, so junked it. It was melted into a batch of cast iron and cast into ornate table legs for outdoor restaurant tables. Just by chance, a tractor trailer was carrying some of these in a shipment, and had to make a delivery to Eberline, and it triggered all the detectors.
In South America, a janitor found a Cesium well logging source on the floor, and put it in his back pocket, and was wandering around asking people what it was. Here is one person who did not have to go the Vegas to lose his @ss.
There have been others.
One common use is making radio isotopes for medical use. They use commerical linear accelerators.
“The Russians had plutonium; the sailors wanted beer.”
The oil and gas industry uses a lot of VERY radioactive isotopes for well-logging purposes.
Its good they caught them but its not like they will make any sort of device out of a Cesium source IMO.
Yes but that was a Iridium 192 source IIRC
This Cesium 137 is very hot. Just a little emits a huge amount of radiation. Fortunately, it is very hard to handle without a dense lead shield which is very heavy.
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