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Radioactive Material Stolen in Nigeria
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency is on the ground in Nigeria for what it describes as a "radiological emergency." Sources say radioactive and highly toxic material that could be used to build a "dirty bomb" was stolen from a Nigerian oil company. Ain't that stinkin' wunderbahr? Agency workers arrived Feb. 16, an agency representative said. The Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency admitted earlier this week that devices used to X-ray oil pipelines for cracks were lost, but officials now believe the disappearance of the material was a "strategic theft." Dunno how you could tell the difference between one flavor of theft and another, unless you're got someone telling you something... Officials could not say whether the material may have been transported out of the country. They did not specify how much material was stolen, but they said it was a significant amount of americium and beryllium. Americium is a synthetic radioactive element produced by the bombardment of plutonium with high-energy neutrons. Beryllium is not radioactive, but it is a highly toxic metallic element used in aerospace alloys, windows in X-ray tubes, and in nuclear reactors. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-03-01 |
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