Re:Alert issued for stolen car with nuclear substance in Chile
by credit_guy on Friday July 19, 2019 @10:02PM
(#20483757)
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"
"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...
[2] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/12/the-unthinkabl...