List of orphan source incidents
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This is a chronological list of
orphan source An orphan source is a self-contained radioactive source that is no longer under proper regulatory control. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines an orphan source more exactly as: ...a sealed source of radioactive material con ...
incidents and accidents.


20th century


1960s

*1962 – Mexico City – 1962 Mexico City radiation accident *January 11, 1963 – Sanlian, China – A 10-
curie In computing, a CURIE (or ''Compact URI'') defines a generic, abbreviated syntax for expressing Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). It is an abbreviated URI expressed in a compact syntax, and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars. A CURIE ...
cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisot ...
source from an industrial seed irradiator was removed from a buried waste repository and taken to a residence by a child. Over the next 5-9 days, six total family members were exposed. Two died and four were injured. *May 3, 1968 – La Plata, Argentina – A construction worker at a chemical plant discovered a
caesium-137 Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucle ...
source and carried it in his pants pocket for 17 hours (right pocket for 7 hours, left pocket for 10 hours). The worker suffered a localized dose of 50-1700 rads, leading to permanent sterility and the eventual amputation of both legs. 17 workers were exposed to an estimated dose of 40 rads. *September 18, 1968 – F.R. Germany – An
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source was mishandled by workers, with one person placing the source in their jacket pocket. Six workers were exposed, with one receiving a 100 rad whole body dose and 4,000-6,000 localized dose to their pelvic and thigh regions.


1970s

*1971 – Chiba, Japan – a 5.26-curie
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source used for industrial radiography was lost. Six construction workers received doses of 15 – 130 rem. *January 8, 1977 – Sasolburg, Transvaal, South Africa – a 6.7-curie iridium-192 source fell out of its container at a construction site. The radiographer did not notice the loss of the source and left the site. A construction supervisor later picked up the source and placed it in his shirt pocket. He travelled home and placed the source in a cupboard. The source was recognized as lost two days later after workers were shown a replica and it was recovered the same day. The supervisor received a whole body dose of 116 rad and required the amputation of two fingers. His wife and child received doses of 17 rad and 10 rad respectively. *May 5, 1978 – Setif, Algeria – A 25-curie
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source fell off a truck during transport. Two children found it and kept it for several days before giving it to their grandmother, whom kept it in the kitchen of her home. After 38 days radiation exposure was identified by medical personnel. The grandmother died of radiation injuries, and six members of her family received varying radiation injuries. *June 5, 1979 – Los Angeles, California, United States – A 28-
curie In computing, a CURIE (or ''Compact URI'') defines a generic, abbreviated syntax for expressing Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). It is an abbreviated URI expressed in a compact syntax, and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars. A CURIE ...
iridium-192 source was lost on a job site. A worker picked it up and carried it in his pocket for 45 minutes before giving it to a manager. The worker received a 68 rem whole body dose and a 1.5megarem surface dose (60,000 rem at 1-cm depth) to his buttocks.


1980s

*October 5, 1982 –
Baku, Azerbaijan Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...
– An individual carried a
caesium-137 Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucle ...
source in their pocket, exposing several individuals. Five people died and 13 other were exposed, including one person who suffered ARS. *1982 – Vikhroli, Mumbai, India – An
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source was lost during transport. A railway worker who found the source suffered significant exposure. *December 6, 1983 – Ciudad Juárez,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. A local resident salvaged materials from a discarded radiation therapy machine containing 6,010 pellets of
cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisot ...
(60Co). The transport of the material led to severe contamination of his truck. When the truck was scrapped, it in turn contaminated another 5,000
metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000  kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
nes of steel to an estimated of activity. This steel was used to manufacture kitchen and restaurant table legs and rebar, some of which was shipped to the U.S. and Canada. The incident was discovered months later when a truck delivering contaminated building materials to the
Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
drove through a radiation monitoring station. Contamination was later measured on roads used to transport the original damaged radiation source. Some pellets were actually found embedded in the roadway. In the state of Sinaloa, 109 houses were condemned due to use of contaminated building material. This incident prompted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and
Customs Service Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
to install radiation detection equipment at all major border crossings. *March 19, 1984 – Casablanca, Morocco – A 16.3-curie
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source was lost and taken home by a laborer, who placed the source on a table in the family bedroom. The source remained in the house for several weeks. Eight people died and three were injured. *September 13, 1987 – In the
Goiânia accident The Goiânia accident was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil, after a forgotten radiotherapy source was stolen from an abandoned hospital site in the city. It was subsequentl ...
, scavengers broke open a radiation-therapy machine in an abandoned clinic in
Goiânia Goiânia (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region and the 10th-largest in the country. Its metropolitan area has a population ...
,
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. They sold the kilocurie (40 TBq)
caesium-137 Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nucle ...
source as a glowing curiosity. Two hundred and fifty people were contaminated; four died.


1990s

*1990 – Sasolburg, Transvaal, South Africa – A
cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisot ...
(60Co) source was left behind following radiography work. Six people handled the source for approximately 5 – 20 minutes. *November 19, 1992 – A 60Co source (which were used for an agricultural project) was taken home by a worker from a well within a construction site which used to be part of an environmental monitoring station in
Xinzhou Xinzhou, ancient name Xiurong (秀荣), is a prefecture-level city occupying the north-central section of Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China, bordering Hebei to the east, Shaanxi to the west, and Inner Mongolia to the northwest ...
, Shanxi, China. This resulted in three deaths and affected 100+ people. A woman was exposed to radiation while nursing her sick husband. Her dose was estimated to be 2.3  Gy by means of a blood test 41 days after the accident, 16 years after the accident the woman has been subject to premature aging which may be a result of her radiation exposure. Her then unborn child (induced at 37 weeks, birth weight 2 kilograms) got a dose of almost 2 Gy in utero, at the age of 16 the child had an IQ of 46, and her second baby died because of an incident six months into pregnancy eight years after the event. *October 21, 1994 – Estonia – Theft of radioactive material in Tammiku. A cesium-137 source was stolen from a waste storage facility. *1995 – France – A worker disassembled a density gauge at a textile treatment plant and handled a 0.2-curie cesium-137 source for 30-45 minutes. *January 5, 1996 – Jilin, Xinzhou, China – A worker found a 2.765 TBq
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source on the ground. He held it in his hand for 15 minutes before putting the source in his pants pocket. The man received a 290 rad whole body dose as well as large localized doses to the left hand, left wrist, and right thigh. *June 1996 – October 9, 1997 – Lilo, Tbilsi, Georgia – 11 servicemen at the Lilo Training Center were hospitalized for symptoms found to be consistent with radiation exposure between April and September 1997. An additional hospitalization in June 1996 was later recognized as having been caused by radiation exposure. An investigation in October of 1997 found a number of sources throughout and around the property, including 200
radium-226 Radium (88Ra) has no stable or nearly stable isotopes, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. The longest lived, and most common, isotope of radium is 226Ra with a half-life of . 226Ra occurs in the decay chain of 238U (often referre ...
coated gun sights. The primary and most active source, a metal cylinder containing cesium-137 with an estimated dose rate of 13 mGy/h at 1 meter's distance, was found in the pocket of a winter jacket stored in an underground shelter. It was estimated that the servicemen were exposed intermittently via the jacket over a period ranging from 60 to 300 days. It is believed that the radiation sources were training material left over from Soviet use of the installation, and a further 352 contaminated sites were identified within the country during subsequent investigations spurred by this incident. *July 24, 1996 – Gilan, Iran – A radiographer using a 5-curie iridium-192 source to check boiler welds at a power plant had the source become detached from the device cable. The source fell into a trench where it was found by a worker who put it into their chest pocket. The worker carried around the source, at times removing it from their pocket and examining it. After approximately 90 minutes he began to experience nausea, dizziness and a burning sensation in his chest; he then returned the source to the trench and left it where he found it. The source was recovered by operators, unaware it had been handled in the intervening period. The worker received a whole body dose of 450 rem. *December 2, 1997 – Volgograd, Russia – An accidental exposure to an
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source caused 1 injury. *1997 – Georgia – A medical teletherapy cobalt-60 source was left unsecured near a station, causing a fatal radiation exposure to one individual. *December 1998 –
Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
– two sealed transport packages for spent 60Co teletherapy sources from a shipment of three planned for export in 1993 were instead stored in a warehouse in
Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
, then moved to Istanbul, where a new owner sold them off as scrap metal. The buyers dismantled the containers, exposing themselves and others to ionizing radiation. Eighteen people, including seven children, were admitted to hospital. Ten of the adults developed acute radiation syndrome. One exposed 60Co source was retrieved, but the source from the other package was still unaccounted for one year later. It is believed that the second container was empty all along, but this could not be conclusively proven from company records. *February 20, 1999 – Yanango, Peru – A welder picked up an iridium-192 source lost by an industrial radiographer working at a hydroelectric plant and placed it in their rear pants pocket. The source was kept in the pocket for several hours, then brought home. The welder received severe exposure to the thigh, requiring the amputation of the leg. Their wife and child were also exposed to a lesser extent, and the source was recovered shortly after midnight. *April 26–28, 1999 – Henan, China – A radiotherapy unit was sold as scrap to a waste disposal company, where its cobalt-60 source was removed from its shielding. A scrap metal dealer purchased the source, then brought it into his home where he placed it in the bedroom of his wife and child. The family suffered from acute radiation sickness and later recovered. The source was identified and removed 24 hours after its sale. *September 13, 1999 – Grozny, Chechnya, Russia – Six individuals attempted to steal radioactive material from a chemical factory in
Grozny Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a po ...
. They opened a container and removed several 12-cm rods of
cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisot ...
, each one 27,000
curie In computing, a CURIE (or ''Compact URI'') defines a generic, abbreviated syntax for expressing Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). It is an abbreviated URI expressed in a compact syntax, and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars. A CURIE ...
s. One of the thieves handled one of the rods for several minutes and reportedly died after 30 minutes. Of the remaining thieves, two died and three received radiation injuries. *1999 – Kingisepp, Leningrad Oblast, Russia – The radioisotope core of a radio thermal generator was recovered at a bus station in Kingisepp. Radiation levels at the surface of the source were 1000 rad/hour. The source had been stolen from a lighthouse 50 km away by three men stealing metal to sell as scrap; all three died of radiation injury.


21st Century


2000s

*February 1, 2000 –
Samut Prakan radiation accident A radiation accident occurred in Samut Prakan Province, Thailand in January–February 2000. The accident happened when an insecurely stored unlicensed cobalt-60 radiation source was recovered by scrap metal collectors who, together with a scrap ...
: The radiation source of an expired
teletherapy External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is the most common form of radiotherapy (radiation therapy). The patient sits or lies on a couch and an external source of ionizing radiation is pointed at a particular part of the body. In contrast to brachy ...
unit was purchased and transferred without registration, and stored in an unguarded car park in Samut Prakan,
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
without warning signs. It was then stolen from the car park and dismantled in a junkyard for scrap metal. Workers completely removed the
cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisot ...
source from the lead shielding, and became ill shortly thereafter. The radioactive nature of the metal and the resulting contamination was not discovered until 18 days later. Seven injuries and three deaths were a result of this incident. *May – July 2000 – Meet-Halfa village in
Qalyubia Qalyubia Governorate ( ar, محافظة القليوبية ' ) is one of the governorates of Egypt. Located in Lower Egypt. It is situated north of Cairo in the Nile Delta region. Its capital is Banha. Name Name of Qalubiyya governorate is driv ...
, Egypt, where a farmer took a source of
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
home. Two household members died; 5 were injured with skin, bone marrow, and/or muscle damage. An additional 76 others were treated for changes to their blood. * August 16, 2000 – Samara Oblast, Russia – A 240-curie iridium-192 source became detached from its shield assembly while being used by three radiographers to check welds in a gas pipeline. The unshielded source was packed into the workers' vehicle, in which they also slept that night. The next morning all three workers experienced nausea and vomiting. After returning to their base, the loose source was not discovered for eight days. When discovered, one of the radiographers picked up the source with his bare hand to return it to its container, receiving a localized dose of 3000–7000 rads to his hand. All three suffered whole body doses of 10–300 rads from sleeping in the vehicle containing the unshielded source. *December 2, 2001 –
Lia radiological accident The Lia radiological accident began on December 2, 2001, with the discovery of two orphan radiation sources near the Enguri Dam in Tsalenjikha District in the country of Georgia. Three villagers from were unknowingly exposed. All three men w ...
: In the village of Lia, Georgia three lumberjacks discovered two 90Sr cores from
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
radioisotope thermoelectric generators A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG), sometimes referred to as a radioisotope power system (RPS), is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioact ...
. These were of the Beta-M type, built in the 80s, with an activity of 1295 TBq each. The lumberjacks were scavenging the forest for firewood, when they came across two metal cylinders melting snow within a one meter radius laying in the road. They picked up these objects to use as personal heaters, sleeping with their backs to them. All lumberjacks sought medical attention individually, and were treated for radiation injuries. One patient, DN-1, was seriously injured and required multiple skin grafts. After 893 days in the hospital, he was declared dead after sepsis caused by complications and infections of a radiation ulcer on the subject's back. The disposal team consisted of 24 men who were restricted to a maximum of 40 seconds worth of exposure (max. 20mSv) each while transferring the canisters to
lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
-lined drums. * November 12-13, 2003 – Kola Harbor, Polyarny, Russia – Inspectors discovered scrap metal thieves had disassembled the radio-thermal generators at two separate lighthouses around Kola Bay. The 5-kg 35,000 curie
strontium-90 Strontium-90 () is a radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission, with a half-life of 28.8 years. It undergoes β− decay into yttrium-90, with a decay energy of 0.546 MeV. Strontium-90 has applications in medicine and ...
sources were found, removed from their shielding, nearby. With their depleted uranium shielding removed, the dose rate for a single source was 800-1000 Roentgens/hour at a distance of 2-5 cm. The perpetrators likely sustained radiation injuries or even fatal doses; but authorities were unsuccessful in locating the perpetrators. * March 23, 2008 – Rades, Tunisia – A worker carried an unshielded
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source by hand for an unspecified period. The worker sustained a 200 rem whole body dose. *April, 2009 – Ecuador – A construction worker picked up a loose 16 Ci radiography source and carried it next to his left leg for an unspecified period, causing significant localized exposure.


2010s

*April 2010 – INES level 4 – A 35-year-old man was hospitalized in
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
after handling radioactive scrap metal. Investigation led to the discovery of an amount of scrap metal containing
Cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisot ...
in Delhi's industrial district of
Mayapuri Mayapuri is an industrial locality in West Delhi. It used to be a major hub of heavy metal and small scale industries, but following recent government sanctions, most of the heavy metal industries moved out. The place is now a combination of r ...
. The 35-year-old man later died from his injuries, while six others remained hospitalized. The radioactivity was from a Gammacell 220 research source which was incorrectly disposed of by sale as scrap metal. The Gammacell 220 was originally made by
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this ...
whose gamma irradiation work is now under the name of
Nordion Nordion Inc., a Sotera Health company, is a health science company that provides Cobalt-60 used for sterilization and treatment of disease (radiotherapy). Nordion is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with facilities in Vancouver, Briti ...
. Nordion do not offer servicing for Gammacell 220 machines but can arrange for, in theory, safe disposal of unwanted units. A year later, Delhi Police charged six DU professors from the Chemistry Department for negligent disposal of the radioactive device. *June 3, 2010 – Turmero, Aragua, Venezuela – An unshielded
iridium-192 There are two natural isotopes of iridium (77Ir), and 34 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being 192Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is 192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All othe ...
source was handled by several workers, one of whom received a significant enough exposure to necessitate transport to France for medical treatment. *July 2010 – During a routine inspection at the
Port of Genoa The Port of Genoa it is one of the most important seaports in Italy, in competition with the ports of Marseille and Barcelona in the Mediterranean Sea. With a trade volume of 51.6 million tonnes, it is the busiest port of Italy after the port of ...
, on
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
's northwest coast, a
cargo container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship ...
from
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
containing nearly of scrap
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
was detected to be emitting gamma radiation at a rate of around After quarantining the container for over a year in quarantine on Port grounds, Italian officials dissected it using robots and discovered a rod of 60Co long and 0.8 cm in diameter intermingled with the scrap. Officials suspected its provenance to be inappropriately disposed-of medical or food-processing equipment. The rod was sent to
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
for further analysis, after which it was likely to be recycled. *December 2013 – A truck transporting a 111 TBq 60Co
teletherapy External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is the most common form of radiotherapy (radiation therapy). The patient sits or lies on a couch and an external source of ionizing radiation is pointed at a particular part of the body. In contrast to brachy ...
source from a
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
hospital to a waste storage facility was hijacked near
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
This triggered a nationwide search by Mexican authorities. The truck was found a day later near
Hueypoxtla Hueypoxtla or Villa de San Bartolomé Hueypoxtla is a town and municipal seat from Hueypoxtla Municipality in Mexico State, in Mexico. In 2010, this village had a total population of 3,989. History On December 4, 2013, cobalt-60 from a truck th ...
, where it was discovered that the source had been removed from its shielding. The source was found shortly after in a nearby field, where it was safely recovered. The thieves could have received a fatal dose of radiation.


See also

* Acute radiation syndrome *
Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "an event that has led to significant consequences to people, the environment or the facility. Examples include lethal effects to individuals, lar ...
*
International Nuclear Event Scale The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) was introduced in 1990 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to enable prompt communication of safety significant information in case of nuclear accidents. The ...
*
List of nuclear and radiation accidents by death toll There have been several nuclear and radiation accidents involving fatalities, including nuclear power plant accidents, nuclear submarine accidents, and radiotherapy incidents. List of accidents Events with disputed fatality counts Chernobyl di ...


References


External links

{{Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents Radioactivity Radiation accidents and incidents Nuclear safety and security