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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Thieves in Mexico steal truck with dangerous radioactive load |
| 2014-07-04 |
| (Reuters) - Thieves in central Mexico on Thursday stole a pick-up truck carrying dangerous radioactive material, authorities said. The load of Iridium-192 was normally used in industrial radiography, Mexico's interior ministry said in a statement. It was housed in a specialized container and would only pose a health risk if the housing was tampered with, it said. Experts say a dirty bomb is a more likely threat than a nuclear bomb in a terrorist attack. However, they say a dirty bomb carries more potential to terrorize than cause a large loss of life. Nuclear expert Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment think-tank said Iridium-192, a common medical and industrial isotope with many applications, "in theory" could be used as a radiological weapon. But, "the perpetrators would have to accumulate enough material to disperse it effectively which may be difficult since in many cases small amounts of Ir-192 are used in sources," he told Reuters in an e-mail. |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #6 Lost & found: Mexico finds radioactive load from stolen truck (Reuters) - Mexican authorities on Friday found a load of dangerous radioactive material that was in a stolen pick-up, a top civil protection official said. The load of iridium 192 was found abandoned on a street a few miles from where the truck was stolen in the industrial Mexico City suburb of Tlalnepantla, Luis Felipe Puente, the head of the country's civil protection agency, said on Twitter. Military troops mounted a security perimeter around the small container emblazoned with logos for hazardous materials until it was removed from the site by the country's nuclear safety commission, according to media reports. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-07-04 22:33 |
| #5 Read "Cartels' not thieves. |
| Posted by: borgboy 2014-07-04 14:54 |
| #4 not the first time |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-07-04 12:55 |
| #3 The excitement created by generations of fear mongering. BTW - Hiroshima today. It wasn't a 'dirty' bomb, it was just the bomb. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-07-04 12:21 |
| #2 The problem is that OSHA has a zero tolerance standard for radiation, ergo, any detectable radiation is a hazard. Given that, a relatively small amount of iridium taped to a kicker charge of about 100 lbs of C4 set off in a public area would provide enough radiation to set off the detectors and force a massive and extremely expensive cleanup operation and the loss of use for YEARS with anything showing detectable radiation. PBS did a show a number of years back and said 10 lbs of iridium in bomb set off in the Washington Metro would cost over $1 TRILLION to clean up. So there you have it. A dirty bomb is an economic weapon designed to deny use and cost zillions to clean up...not really designed to kill or to destroy just deny use. Sorta like a neutron bomb or a low yield nuke set off as an airburst with the fireball not touching the ground. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2014-07-04 12:00 |
| #1 I sense a potentially hilarious teen movie, with serious gross-outs. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-07-04 11:36 |
