Radioactive material containers missing
Radioactive material containers missing
JAKARTA (JP): Seventeen containers of harmful radioactive
elements have been found missing from the warehouse of state-
owned steel company PT Krakatau Steel at Cilegon, West Java, a
police officer said on Wednesday.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf called on the
public to immediately report any information they have to nearest
police station to help recover the missing containers containing
Americium-241 and Cobalt-60.
"This is a serious matter. We've been moving swiftly to deal
with it," Saleh told The Jakarta Post.
The containers, he said, are in the shape of a tube 20
centimeters long and weighing 40 kilograms each.
Four other similar tubes, with its contents intact, was found
on Tuesday not far from the warehouse, he said.
The police, Saleh explained, still do not know if the missing
containers were taken out of the warehouse at once or at
different times.
Both local police and executives of the steel producing firm
do not know exactly when the tubes went missing. The company's
staff, while making a routine check on Friday, noticed the loss,
the spokesman said.
Krakatau Steel and police believe the containers had been
stolen from the warehouse, which looks like a guard post and
marked with yellow triangles symbolizing the presence of
dangerous items, Saleh said.
Judging from the undamaged door and the padlock of the
warehouse, the theft might have been an inside job, he added.
The local police have so far questioned several witnesses,
including the company's security officials and persons in charge
of the hazardous substances.
Separately, head of Krakatau Steel's health safety and
environment Sugeng Sumbarjo said his men, using a radioactive
detector, had not found any traces of radiation leak in and
around the warehouse.
According to Sugeng, the radiation from the two elements could
burn human skin and damage blood corpuscles in the body. A direct
contact with the hazardous substance could lead to cancer, tumor
or leukemia.
"The radiation, which has a strong and long-lasting effect on
the human body, could spread to the other parts of the body and
only amputation could help stop its spread," he was quoted by
Antara as saying.
Cobalt-60 is mostly used by the company to cut steel under
high temperature.
Officer Saleh also suspected that the radioactive elements had
been stolen by companies which also use the substances in their
production.
"I think the thieves were aiming at the lead containers
instead of its contents because the containers are very
expensive," said Saleh,
He said the thieves might not realize the dangers of the
radioactive substances and might just discard them, endangering
other people. (07)