The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: flowers on December 06, 2013, 08:05:14 pm
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http://www.wkow.com/story/24155923/police-block-mexico-hospital-6-may-have-radiation
PACHUCA, Mexico (AP) - Federal police blocked access Friday to a central Mexico hospital where six people were reported to have been admitted with radiation exposure.
An official familiar with the case confirmed Mexican media reports that the six have been admitted to the general hospital in the city of Pachuca and may have been exposed to a stolen source of cobalt-60.
The official, who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media, said only one person was dizzy and vomiting, which are symptoms of radiation poisoning.
The atomic energy agency said the cobalt has an activity of 3,000 curries, or Category 1, meaning "it would probably be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period in the range of a few minutes to an hour."
The missing shipment of radioactive cobalt-60 was found Wednesday about 40 kilometers (24 miles) from where it had been stolen early Monday.
A cargo truck hauling the cobalt-60 was taken from a gas station in the central state of Hidalgo, where Pachuca is located. The material had been removed from obsolete radiation therapy equipment at a hospital in the northern city of Tijuana and was being transported to nuclear waste facility in the state of Mexico, which borders Mexico City.
It seems they found the idiots who didn't know what that funny looking sticker was on the side of the cobalt-60 containers.
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How to do you prefer your Mexican....well done or extra crispy...???
Per Wiki...
Cobalt-60, 60Co, is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2714 years. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of the isotope 59Co.[3] 60Co decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60 (60Ni). The activated nickel nucleus emits two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, hence the overall nuclear equation of the reaction is
59
27Co + n → 60
27Co → 60
28Ni + e− + ν
e + gamma rays.
**SCHNIPP**
"MeV" stands for Million electron Volts and is an indicator of the energy of each fission reaction.
yah...very technical, but the long and the short of that Cobalt 60 emits both Gamma rays and Beta Particles (loose electrons) as it decays, and is extremely dangerous when in close contact. One of the significant fallout hazards of many nuclear weapons bursts is Colbalt 60, and in fact wrapping a nuclear device in Cobalt 60 and letting it be atomized and widely disbursed is one of the early ways of enhancing the effects of nuclear weapons.
These guys were being fried the entire time they were close to this stuff, and what the safe distance is depends on just how much Cobalt 60 they were exposed to and for how long.
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Cobalt 60 is the "doomsday" isotope as it was the perfect way to kill all life on Earth by adding cobalt to nuclear bombs, which turn it into cobalt 60 upon detonation.
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'Dirty bomb' theft: Police seal off Mexican hospital after six are admitted for radiation poisoning
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519612/Police-block-access-Mexico-hospital-admitted-radiation-exposure.html
Police have blocked access to a hospital in Pachuca after six were admitted for radiation exposure
A truck containing a shipment of cobalt-60 was stolen Monday
The cobalt-60 was recovered Wednesday, but grave fears were held for the thieves
Exposure to cobalt-60 can kill those exposed 'almost immediately'
The cobalt had been used for cancer treatments in Tijuana
Experts say cobalt-60 can also be used to make a dirty bomb
The truck was headed to a waste facility
Thieves probably wanted truck and were unaware of nuclear cargo
It's not clear if the six hospitalized are the thieves
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/06/article-2519188-19E24C7E00000578-381_634x424.jpg)Found: A firefighter takes photographs of the radiation head that was part of a radiation therapy machine, on the patio of the family who found the abandoned radiation head in a nearby field
In that photo that guy is standing next to the radiation head...is'nt that dangerous?
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Highly unlikely this was an attempt at a "dirty bomb." If it was, they would not have abandoned the vehicle, and then gone to the hospital. This sounds like some idiots got a lot more than they bargained for when they jacked the truck.
That part probably isn't radioactive, or at least not very.
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That part probably isn't radioactive, or at least not very.
I guess that guy will find out soon if it was.
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Cobalt 60 is the "doomsday" isotope as it was the perfect way to kill all life on Earth by adding cobalt to nuclear bombs, which turn it into cobalt 60 upon detonation.
Its called a salted bomb. We are studying nuclear weapons at my university
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Cobalt 60 is the "doomsday" isotope as it was the perfect way to kill all life on Earth by adding cobalt to nuclear bombs, which turn it into cobalt 60 upon detonation.
From the wiki article on the cobalt bomb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_bomb):
A cobalt bomb is a theoretical type of "salted bomb": a nuclear weapon designed to produce enhanced amounts of radioactive fallout, intended to contaminate a large area with radioactive material. The concept of a cobalt bomb was originally described in a radio program by physicist Leó Szilárd on February 26, 1950. He suggested that an arsenal of cobalt bombs would be capable of destroying all human life on Earth (though his conclusions are disputed).
As far as is publicly known, no cobalt bombs have ever been built. The Operation Antler/Round 1 test by the British at the Tadje site in the Maralinga range in Australia on September 14, 1957 tested a bomb using cobalt pellets as a radiochemical tracer for estimating yield. This was considered a failure and the experiment was not repeated.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoPpGJE59sI
Secrets of the Dead: The Worlds Biggest Bomb
Beginning in the 1950s, American and Soviet scientists engaged in a dangerous race to see who could build and detonate the world's largest bomb. The results exceeded all expectations about how big a bomb could be built. This is an epic story where the United States led the way, but then left the field clear for the Soviet Union to break all records. Terrifyingly, the bomb-makers on both sides were flying blind as they pushed the technology far into unknown territory.
Here is the entire video from PBS:Secrets of the Dead: The Worlds Biggest Bomb
http://video.pbs.org/video/1923035514/
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In that photo that guy is standing next to the radiation head...is'nt that dangerous?
Only if he stands directly in front of the nozzle and it is unshuttered. Most of what you see is shielding, alternating layers of lead and cadmium.
(Mom worked as an X ray tech and radiotherapist for most of her life.)
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There was a Clancy inspired movie where an Israeli jet carrying a nuclear warhead crashed during one of their wars and was buried/lost in the desert.....where a couple a nomads discovered the wreckage and took the warhead to sell.
They died of radiation poisoning.
......I suppose these Mexicans didn't catch that movie. [/s]
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There was a Clancy inspired movie where an Israeli jet carrying a nuclear warhead crashed during one of their wars and was buried/lost in the desert.....where a couple a nomads discovered the wreckage and took the warhead to sell.
They died of radiation poisoning.
......I suppose these Mexicans didn't catch that movie. [/s]
The book was called "Sum of All Fears". It was a good book and movie
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The book was called "Sum of All Fears". It was a good book and movie
I did not like Ben Affleck play Jack Ryan.
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I did not like Ben Affleck play Jack Ryan.
Just remember....it took a nuke to kill the Baltimore Ravens. :patriot:
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Has anyone figured out what the original plans were for the radioactive material .... and who was going to execute them??
Just wondering. :shrug:
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Another FBI operation, ala Fast & Furious, gone bad?
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Has anyone figured out what the original plans were for the radioactive material .... and who was going to execute them??
Just wondering. :shrug:
It appears they were after the truck and didn't realize what the cargo was. Criminals aren't know for being very smart.
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Has anyone figured out what the original plans were for the radioactive material .... and who was going to execute them??
Just wondering. :shrug:
A lot of times they simply see the item itself as something high tech-y with lots of precious metals on things like circuit boards and wiring, that they think they can sell to a business that recycles waste to recover those sorts of metals, the way that a lot of other electronics are recycled.
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It appears they were after the truck and didn't realize what the cargo was. Criminals aren't know for being very smart.
Okay. But where did the cargo come from and where was it headed?????
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Okay. But where did the cargo come from and where was it headed?????
Decommissioned hospital.
Heading to the USA for safe disposal - the US handles all Mexico's radioisotopes. Also all Canada's.