Radioactive Material Truck Stolen With Cobalt-60 Substance Onboard; Officials Deem It 'Low Consequence Act'

The United Nations nuclear agency and Mexican officials informed the public that a truck carrying dangerous radioactive material, cobalt-60, from a hospital to a nuclear waste was stolen, Reuters reported.

The cobalt-60 radioactive material has its peaceful uses in the medical and industrial fields, but it can also be used to create a so-called "dirty bomb," which according to officials would cause more panic than actual harm, Reuters reported.

The truck was moving the substance from the northern city of Tijuana to a radioactive waste-storage center when it was abducted near Mexico City on Monday, according to Reuters. The cobalt-60 can be used in a dirty bomb that would disperse radiation through explosives.

"At the time the truck was stolen, the (radioactive) source was properly shielded," the International Atomic Energy Agency statement said. "However, the source could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged."

Experts cautioned mass panic and said although radioactive material is easy to find and the device can be easily made, the dirty bomb product is probably a threat and not a nuclear bomb, though exposure to cobalt-60 may cause an increased chance of cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, Reuters reported.

"Cobalt-60 has figured in several serious accidents, some of them fatal," nuclear expert Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment think-tank told Reuters. "If dispersed, cobalt-60 or other radioactive source material could cause radiation poisoning locally."

The IAEA encounters over 100 incidents of radioactive thefts yearly, but most are not released to the public, according to Reuters. According to nuclear experts, a nuclear bomb would be considered a "low probability, high consequence act," as it is highly unlikely to be manufactured with the cobalt-60 because it would require obtaining hard to find or manufacture uranium or plutonium, Reuters reported.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the more probable dirty bomb is considered a "high probability, low consequence act," and experts have deemed it as a terrorizing tool rather than a bomb that could cause large loss of life, according to Reuters.

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