Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Another radioactive security breach

Following from yesterday's news of the Chechen nightmare, Venezuala has seen highwaymen steal a nuclear shipment.


Feature film rights, anyone?

"We have a state of emergency at a national and regional level and are looking for the capsule everywhere," said civil defense director Col. Antonio Rivero, after the truck was hijacked.

The material is Iridium-192, which emits powerful gamma radiation and is used for industrial radiography.

In Brazil in 1987, scrap-metal scavengers took a container with Cesium-137 from an abandoned radiation therapy clinic without knowing itl was radioactive and opened it. Children smeared the material on their faces and bodies because it glowed. Five people died and 249 suffered from radiation contamination.

Renewable energy? Yes, please.

Full story here.

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