Stolen Cobalt 60

[Stonent]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_MEXICO_RADIOACTIVE_THEFT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-12-06-14-07-00

The high Gamma-energies result in a significant mass difference between 60Ni and 60Co of 0.003 u. This amounts to nearly 20 watts per gram, nearly 30 times larger than that of 238Pu.

Apparently the truck was stolen for the crane attachment on it. The thieves had no idea what was inside.

[G7PSK]

Hope they find it all, that's nasty stuff Kill the world with a ton spread in the atmosphere.

[M. András]

they will find some glowing bodies where the geiger counter will jump out of their hands. which idiot on the world tries to open a heavy lead container with radioactive markings?

[MatCat]

It was found, the thieves actually removed it from the truck and moved in 60 feet away in a farm field.  Likely the thieves are dead, or about to be.

[Skimask]

they will find some glowing bodies where the geiger counter will jump out of their hands. which idiot on the world tries to open a heavy lead container with radioactive markings?

These days it's probably some kids that think the markings mean there's a super gaming PC inside.

[Stonent]

It was found, the thieves actually removed it from the truck and moved in 60 feet away in a farm field.  Likely the thieves are dead, or about to be.

Yeah well the 6 people at the hospital are probably a good place to start looking.

[Stonent]

Hope they find it all, that's nasty stuff Kill the world with a ton spread in the atmosphere.

Nah not that much.

[ampdoctor]

Sounds like transport security was pretty weak at best. I mean WTF were they thinking?! It's not like they're delivering nuts and bolts or a load of dog food from the Alpo factory. It reads like the drivers pulled over to the side of the road, to take a little siesta. The cargo got hijacked by a few common thieves that were "sure there's got to be something in here we can sell". When they opened it up they got a bit of a surprise. The whole incident reads like a bad scene from the 80's movie "repo man"

[Stonent]

Hmm, now they're saying the 6 people did not test positive for radiation poisoning.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/06/world/americas/mexico-radioactive-theft/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[M. András]

hahh no way. unless they had protective gear which indicates it was a planned, paid driver etc, or its not that 6 peeps cos they are buried for a while now, or they have something in common with cockroaches.

[c4757p]

Dammit, I was all ready to chalk up another victory for karma...

[N2IXK]

Hmm, now they're saying the 6 people did not test positive for radiation poisoning.

What would they be testing for? Apparently one of the 6 was complaining about nausea and headache, but what else would show up on tests that quickly?

Co60 is a gamma source, not like a neutron source that would activate loose change, zippers, etc. and be detectable on a Geiger counter.

Has anyone heard if the Co source was ever actually exposed? Did they just drag the thing out of the shipping crate, or did they attack it with tools trying to open it and spread the material around?

[Stonent]

Hmm, now they're saying the 6 people did not test positive for radiation poisoning.

What would they be testing for? Apparently one of the 6 was complaining about nausea and headache, but what else would show up on tests that quickly?

Co60 is a gamma source, not like a neutron source that would activate loose change, zippers, etc. and be detectable on a Geiger counter.

Has anyone heard if the Co source was ever actually exposed? Did they just drag the thing out of the shipping crate, or did they attack it with tools trying to open it and spread the material around?

Well people who have had recent Cobalt 60 cancer treatments can trigger alarms on mobile radiation monitoring stations.

[N2IXK]

Have certainly heard of that with stuff like I-131 or Tc-99, where the stuff (very short half life) is actually injected into the patient. But never with Co-60, which AFAIK is not implanted or injected, but simply used as an external gamma source.

[Rory]

I'd really like to know just how this stuff could be left unsecured like this.

[Stonent]

I'd really like to know just how this stuff could be left unsecured like this.

From what I understood they were removing old hospital equipment and the guy was approached by a man with a gun at a gas station who wanted the truck.  Everything may have been ok with proper permits but the driver decided he didn't want to argue with a man holding a gun.

[Maxlor]

Assuming the thieves were not exposed to the ⁶⁰Co for long, the radiation is far from fatal. Say the drove to that field, opened to the container, couldn't figure out why there's a bit of metal in it and discarded it, I'd say they were exposed for maybe a minute, which would result in a radiation dose of a a few hundred mSv. This will cause some radiation sickness symptoms, but they'll survive it (short term anyway, the cancer will come much later...)

The Mexican officials claiming that the thieves were probably dead by now, or were going to die soon, is just overdramatization, or trying to scare the thieves into giving themselves up.

Obligatory XKCD: Radiation Dose Chart

[grumpydoc]

Assuming the thieves were not exposed to the 60Co for long, the radiation is far from fatal.

It's somewhat difficult to estimate what dose anyone handling the source would get, but I wouldn't fancy the experiment.

If this was from a cobalt radiotherapy unit then the source will have delivered 1-2Gy per minute at 1m from the source. Let's assume 1Gy/min - inverse square law makes that 4Gy/min at 50cm and 16Gy/min at 25cm.

LD₅₀ without supportive treatment in humans is 4-6Gy (LD₁₀₀ is 8-10Gy supportive treatment or not) so anyone actually handling the source for any length of time more than a few seconds might well receive whole body doses in the lethal range - certainly they would almost certainly sustain burns to their hands as the dose rate to the hands of anyone holding the source would have been in the order of 10's of thousands of Gray per minute (inverse square law again - dose rate 5cm from the source is 4000Gy/min).

That said I'm not sure the source itself would be all that easy to get out of the packaging.

[rsjsouza]

I'd really like to know just how this stuff could be left unsecured like this.

Something way worse happened in a city very close to my hometown, due to a mix of govermnent ineptitude and thieves' ignorance... Just check this wikipedia entry.

[smashedProton]

they will find some glowing bodies where the geiger counter will jump out of their hands. which idiot on the world tries to open a heavy lead container with radioactive markings?

These days it's probably some kids that think the markings mean there's a super gaming PC inside.

Nobody is that stupid...

[TheWelly888]

From the XKCD page quoted by Maxlor:

"If you are basing radiation safety procedures on an internet PNG image and things go wrong, you have no-one to blame but yourself"

 

[SeanB]

They arrested people here trying to sell Uranium ( not sure as to isotope composition or if it was a metal or an oxide ) last week.  Then again DU is not terribly harmful, it really is less radioactive than the ore it was mined from. Just treat it as dangerous like lead or any other heavy metal and you are fine. After all a lot of shielding vests are made from it.

[Towger]

About a month back, the local scrap metal 'collectors' Tinkers/pikies/knackers/gypsies or travelers as they like to be called stole a bright red box, containing old radioactive lightning conductors. Needless to say dispite a nation alert they have not been found.

[Kryoclasm]

From what I read week or so ago, the thieves handled the Cobalt 60 after they opened the safety containers.

I imagine they died drowning in their own body fluids.