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I suspect this kind of transportation is far more common than most people realize. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that "3 million packages of radi
by DanielStraight 13y ago
I suspect this kind of transportation is far more common than most people realize.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that "3 million packages of radioactive materials are shipped each year in the United States."[1]
As for security measures: "The shipper must also meet the Department of Transportation's requirements for shipment of the nuclear material including route selection, vehicle condition and placarding, driver training, package marking, labeling, and other shipping documentation."[2] I suspect most of this was in place, or at least the Mexican equivalent.
Nothing about armed escorts is mentioned for general transportation of radioactive material. For spent nuclear fuel, "armed escorts [are required] in heavily populated areas."[2]
For another data point, here's a supplier of Cobalt-60's page on their safety: http://www.nordion.com/gamma/nordion_cobalt.html http://www.nordion.com/gamma/nordion_cobalt.html Again, there is no indication that armed escort would be expected, simply secure vehicles that won't leak radiation while delivering it or in the event of an accident.
All that said, Cobalt-60 is used for sterilization of medical equipment, radiotherapy, food irradiation, and quite a few other things. It's probably not that hard to obtain if you really want it.
[1] https://forms.nrc.gov/materials/transportation.html https://forms.nrc.gov/materials/transportation.html
[2] https://forms.nrc.gov/materials/transportation/shipping.html https://forms.nrc.gov/materials/transportation/shipping.html
- ck2 13y agoBasically it sounds like a "dirty bomb" is not if, but when, someday. Lovely.
- saalweachter 13y agoWe're lucky that, as Bruce Schneier frequently points out with respect to airline hijackings, there really aren't as many terrible people out there wanting to indiscriminately kill hundreds or thousands as we all fear there are.
- cstuder 13y agoAccording to the Wired article about the radioactive container in Genoas port (2011, http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_radioactivecargo/all/1 http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_radioactivecargo/al...), Cobalt-60 isn't the first choice for dirty bombs. There are nastier isotopes out there.
- seefriek 13y agoSee: Strontium-90
- jgeorge 13y agoI agree it's not the first choice for a dirty bomb, but if you actually have access to a truckload of it, I can presume it's "good enough" rather than passing on it in the hopes of finding something better.
- gh02t 13y agoA truckload isn't all that much. I doubt the truck in the article was carrying more than a couple grams of the actual material. The lab grade sources we use (that are considered safe to handle as long as you don't eat them) are on the order of micrograms.
- dreamfactory 13y agoI have read that dirty bombs are a myth and technically infeasible.
- mistercow 13y agoProbably not. A lot of analysis has been done on dirty bombs and their likely effects, and the result of that analysis is that the vast majority of the damage would come from the bomb, not the radioactive material. Basically, the bomb would kill anyone close enough to get dangerous radiation exposure, and leave a radioactive mess to clean up. People nearby would be exposed to small amounts of radiation, but would pretty much be fine in the long term. The main power of a dirty bomb is that people overestimate its lethality. So my guess is that we will see at most one dirty bomb, after which people will cease to see it as a serious threat.
- lmm 13y agoPeople don't react rationally to radiation. Twenty years later there will be people talking about how they got cancer from the increased radiation in the area where it went off.
- lhc- 13y agoAlas, mortality does not seem to be relevant to how seriously people consider a threat. Look at the Boston Marathon bombings: 3 dead, total. And yet the reaction has not been to see it as a relatively nonserious threat (how many people died in car accidents that same day?).
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- greyfade 13y ago
- apaprocki 13y ago> I suspect this kind of transportation is far more common than most people realize. Yup. A few doors down from Rap Genius in prime-post-hipster Williamsburg, Brooklyn is Radiac, a radioactive waste transfer facility[1]. I remember a few years back Vice made an amusing video where they went up to their back door with a geiger counter that started clicking rapidly much to viewers' delight. [1]: http://bit.ly/Iu3mH8 http://bit.ly/Iu3mH8
- danielweber 13y agoIt feels a lot like the style of regulation in the Western world, which is usually "just do a good job and we will worry about things that slip through the cracks when they do." In a basically lawful society you don't need to put armed guards on every dangerous thing. Still, tracking hardware is a lot cheaper than it was 10 or 20 years ago. I work in that industry and there is a lot of competition so no one should have to go without.