
Alert issued for stolen car with nuclear substance in Chile - hhs
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-crime/alert-issued-for-stolen-car-with-nuclear-substance-in-chile-idUSKCN1UE25E
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ortusdux
For reference, small portable devices containing Iridium-192 are frequently
used for on-site NDT weld inspections. NDT inspectors often have a truck full
of valuable equipment, they are frequently alone on the job site, and the
welds being inspected are usually in remote locations. This is not a rare
occurrence and odds are the thief has no idea how thoroughly unlucky they are.

[https://www.ndt.com.au/product/qsa-sentinel-iridium-
ir-192-s...](https://www.ndt.com.au/product/qsa-sentinel-iridium-
ir-192-sources-for-gamma-radiography/)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_radiography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_radiography)

~~~
zepearl
NDT = Non Destructive Test

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credit_guy
So, it appears this type of incident is somewhat comment. Wikipedia [1]
states:

"Iridium-192 has accounted for the majority of cases tracked by the U.S
Nuclear Regulatory Commission in which radioactive materials have gone missing
in quantities large enough to make a dirty bomb."

If you chase the wikipedia references, you get to this 2007 New Yorker article
[2]. Since the New Yorker articles are notoriously long winded, here's the
relevant paragraph:

"In the United States, between 1994 and 2005, the N.R.C. recorded sixty-one
domestic cases of stolen or lost isotopes in amounts that would clearly be
useful to someone making a dirty bomb, although the majority of these involved
iridium-192, which loses its potency fairly quickly."

For reference, the half-life of Iridium-192 is 73 days.

In other words, the concise summary of this situation is "Move along, nothing
to see here"

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_iridium#Iridium-19...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_iridium#Iridium-192)

[2] [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/12/the-
unthinkabl...](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/12/the-
unthinkable-2)

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hprotagonist
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident)

again?! Different isotope, different country -- let's hope for different
outcome.

~~~
msds
Much more likely to unfold like [https://www-
pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/PUB1776_web.p...](https://www-
pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/PUB1776_web.pdf)

~~~
HarryHirsch
Wikipedia has a whole article on radioactive scrap metal:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_scrap_metal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_scrap_metal)

THe Atomic Energy Authority even publishes a booklet for scrap metal dealers
so that they can recognize radioaction sources:
[https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/sealedradsource1013...](https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/sealedradsource1013.pdf)

~~~
cmatteri
I found the frequency of contamination of scrap metal with radioisotopes to be
disturbingly high (this article lists several more cases in addition to those
in the wikipedia article: [https://slate.com/technology/2013/05/asos-
investigation-into...](https://slate.com/technology/2013/05/asos-
investigation-into-radioactive-belts-demonstrates-scrap-metal-problem.html)),
and we don't seem to be able to reliably detect contaminated goods at the
border.

Reading these articles inspired me to build a geiger counter to confirm that
none of the metal items I own are contaminated. I used a kit (from
[https://sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/](https://sites.google.com/site/diygeigercounter/)
, but other sites sell them as well) to build a detector that can reliably
measure gamma for about $60. Tubes that can detect alpha (e.g. from
contamination with Americium-241) as well as test sources (with comparable
activity to an ionization smoke detector, i.e. safe and legal for anyone in
the US to own) for both alpha and gamma are slightly more expensive but
readily available.

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daedalus2027
The same thing it also did happen in my country a couple of months ago. By the
way it is in south america too.

[https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/policiales/policia-
adv...](https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/policiales/policia-advierte-
poblacion-robo-peligroso-material-radioactivo.html)

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dmix
It's got big radioactive warnings on it, so it should be pretty obvious to the
thief, if he wasn't already familiar with the construction industry:

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=SENTINEL+880&iax=images&ia=images](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=SENTINEL+880&iax=images&ia=images)

Costs about $15-20k: [https://irss.ca/product-category/shop-by-brand/qsa-
global/88...](https://irss.ca/product-category/shop-by-brand/qsa-
global/880-series/)

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nsajko
Notices by CCHEN, with images:

[http://www.cchen.cl/?p=4546](http://www.cchen.cl/?p=4546)

[https://twitter.com/cchen_gob/status/1152191271387222016](https://twitter.com/cchen_gob/status/1152191271387222016)

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ohiovr
Article says the vehicle was a truck I was expecting a DeLorean.

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stuaxo
Repo man?

