Radioactive material recovered in Mexico after hijacking

Radioactive material recovered in Mexico after hijacking of truck carrying the ‘extremely dangerous’ substance

A truck stolen near Mexico City containing radioactive material for medical treatments was found abandoned Wednesday evening shortly before officials announced the material had been located.

By Deborah Hastings / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Wednesday, December 4, 2013, 11:38 AM

Updated: Wednesday, December 4, 2013, 7:07 PM

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Mexican authorities launched an alert in several states after the robbery of a medical equipment truck that contains radioactive material that could be used in a so-called 'dirty bomb.'

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Dangerous radioactive material used in medical treatments, first reported missing from a stolen truck in Mexico, has been recovered, according to an official.
Two days after the truck carrying the material was hijacked, Juan Eibenschutz, Mexico's nuclear safety director, said the radioactive cobalt-60 has been found near where the stolen vehicle was abandoned.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear body, announced early Wednesday that the truck contained cobalt-60, a radioactive material used in cancer therapies.
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Cobalt-60 can potentially also be used to make a so-called "dirty bomb", where conventional explosives are used to disperse radiation from a radioactive source. But the IAEA made no mention of this in its statement.

HO/AFP/Getty Images

Photo released Wednesday by Mexico’s nuclear security agency shows sealed container of radioactive waste onboard truck that was stolen from a gas station near the capital and later found empty.

The IAEA said it had been informed by Mexican authorities that the truck, which was taking cobalt-60 from a hospital in the northern city of Tijuana to a radioactive waste storage center, was stolen in Tepojaco near Mexico City on Monday.
"At the time the truck was stolen, the (radioactive) source was properly shielded. However, the source could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged," the IAEA statement said.
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More than 100 incidents of thefts and other unauthorized activities involving nuclear and radioactive material are reported to the IAEA annually, the U.N. agency said earlier this year.
Because radioactive material is regarded as less hard to find and the device easier to manufacture, experts say a so-called "dirty bomb" is a more likely threat than a nuclear bomb in any attack by militants.

HO/AFP/Getty Images

Radioactive waste contained in medical treatment device, shown here, was in the truck before it was hijacked in Hidalgo state.

Experts describe the threat of a crude fissile nuclear bomb, which is technically difficult to manufacture and requires hard-to-obtain bomb-grade uranium or plutonium, as a "low probability, high consequence act" — unlikely but with the potential to cause large-scale harm to life and property.
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But a "dirty bomb" is seen as a "high probability, low consequence act" with more potential to terrorize than cause large loss of life.
At a nuclear security summit in 2012, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano specifically singled out cobalt-60 among radioactive sources that could be used for such bombs.
"These materials, such as cobalt-60, could be used along with conventional explosives to make so-called dirty bombs. A dirty bomb detonated in a major city could cause mass panic, as well as serious economic and environmental consequences," Amano said, according to a copy of his speech.