[ RadSafe ] Radioactive substance stolen in Japan

[Clayton J Bradt]

Radioactive substance stolen in Japan: police


1 day ago


TOKYO (AFP) — A radioactive substance that can be used to make a dirty bomb
has been stolen in Japan, police and officials said Tuesday, warning the
public not to go near it.


A sealed metal container holding a small amount of iridium 192 was stolen
on Monday from the office near Tokyo of a company that inspects industrial
products, police said.


Iridium 192 is commonly used in cancer radiation treatment but it is also
cited in scenarios by anti-terrorism investigators as an ingredient for a
makeshift nuclear bomb.


Police said they did not know the motive of whoever stole the substance
from the office of Non-Destructive Inspection Co. Ltd in the Tokyo suburb
of Ichihara.


A security camera at the warehouse caught a person wearing a baseball cap
and work tunic carrying away the 22-kilogramme (48.4-pound) container, the
company and police said.


"We are examining the tape and looking for the person," a police spokesman
said.


The science ministry issued a warning with a picture of the container,
warning the public it was dangerous if opened.


"Anyone who finds it, please don't get near it. Report it to a nearby
police station," the ministry said on its website.


The container held a two-millimetre (0.08-inch) tall cylindrical bit of
iridium 192.


If taken out of the container, the stolen iridium 192 can give off 50
millisieverts of radiation an hour at a distance of one metre (3.3 feet),
the limit for occupational radiation exposure for one year, the company
said.


A normal person would start feeling sick, "just like when you have a
hangover," if standing one metre in front of the opened container for five
hours, said Toshio Kariya, a storage management official at the company.


Radiation could be fatal if a person is exposed to 7,000-8,000
millisieverts for a short period of time.


Non-Destructive Inspection, based in the western city of Osaka, uses
devices such as iridium 192 to check for damages and defects in products
without destroying them.
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Clayton J. Bradt
dutchbradt at hughes.net
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