Mexican thieves steal truck carrying radioactive material, may have not known

In an act straight out of a Tom Clancy novel or 90’s action movie, Mexican thieves hijacked a truck carrying an extremely hazardous, radioactive payload. The white Volkswagen truck was seized by armed gunmen at a gas station in Tepojaco, just outside the nation’s capital city, Mexico City.

The 2.5 ton truck was intercepted on Monday of this week while on route to a waste disposal center from a hospital in Tijuana, UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency tells the public. With all euphemisms cast aside, the UN admits the cargo is “extremely dangerous,” if and when the thieves remove or damage the protective shielding.

 Above: medical equipment containing the radioactive material as it’s prepped for transportation. Courtesy of BBC.

Payload content
The radioactive chemical in talk is called cobalt-60, and is used for radiotherapy and instrument sterilization in hospitals. Cobalt-60 cannot be fashioned into a traditional nuclear weapon, but can be used to create a “dirty bomb,” that disperses the radioactive material across a wide area. However, no official suggestions imply that this is the thieves’ intentions.

Experts have long vocalized the potential risks imposed by the radioactive materials used by hospitals, but disposing of decayed materials is a necessary action. Cobalt-60’s radioactivity decreases over time, preventing it from being effectively used in radiotherapy if past a certain half-life. Fortunately, decayed sources such as these are more of an up-close and personal risk than anything else. The cobalt-60 would be significantly weaker than a fresh batch if employed in a dirty bomb and dispersed over a large area; the IAEA did not disclose the estimated amount of cobalt-60 present in the truck.

Investigation underway
The IAEA reveals that there are more than 100 instances of theft and unauthorized activities involving nuclear and radioactive materials that take place yearly. Federal, state, and local Mexican law enforcement officials are conducting a sweeping search across six states for the estranged truck bearing the licenses plate 726-DT-8.

story via NPR