Nuclear Waste Leaves Workers Near Death in India
Earlier this week, as world leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit discussed President Obama’s plan for securing all nuclear materials around the world within four years, a real nuclear drama was unfolding half way across the world at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi.
At least seven people are battling for their lives in India after being exposed to the deadly radioactive element Cobalt-60. In critical condition and near death is Deepak Jain, an Indian scrap metal dealer, in whose shop “eight bags” of radioactive wires and metal scraps were found. In late March, after cutting into a “mysterious shining object” that began to ooze white liquid, Jain was exposed to potentially lethal doses of Cobalt-60. His skin, severely burned, turned black as did his finger and toenails. By the time he reached the hospital, Jain had lost all his body hair according to the Hindustan Times. Five of the six other individuals exposed to the Cobalt-60, all workers in Jain’s shop, are in critical condition.
Indian officials with the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) cordoned off the area in West New Delhi, which is home to 14 million people. Calling it the “worst case of radiation poisoning in India,” officials armed with Geiger counters descended upon the junk shop and packed up radioactive materials.
To date, no one has been able to determine where the Cobalt-60 originally came from. “The material has been shielded in lead flasks and is being sent for examination. It was broken into many pieces and it was difficult to trace all of them. It constituted of Cobalt-60,” S.K. Malhotra, spokesman for the AERB, has been widely quoted as saying.
A spokesman for the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, India’s largest nuclear facility, says that anyone who visited Jain’s junk shop in the past 20 days should immediately go to the hospital to be tested for radiation poisoning.
Cobalt-60 is atomic waste, a radioactive by-product of nuclear reactors. It was co-discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg, who was also the co-discoverer of plutonium, which, along with uranium, is used to make nuclear bombs.
With only 60-70 doctors reportedly in all of India equipped to deal with the kind of radioactive disaster unfolding in West New Delhi, atomic energy officials in India are urging caution and calm despite a growing sense of panic among some locals. On April 14, nearly a week after the first source was discovered, a second Cobalt-60 source was found and isolated in a junk shop a few blocks from Deepak Jain’s. “The area is secure and there was no need to cordon off the area,” Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told the Times of India.
Oh, dear. This article needs a great deal of clarification. Co-60 is, indeed, found in “atomic waste”, but when extracted from same becomes a valuable commodity in itself and is no longer a waste product. Such Co-60 is sealed in (usually stainless steel) capsules to prevent its dispersal and used to treat cancer and for industrial radiography, among other things. The gamma radiation from the decaying Co-60 is used to irradiate and kill cancer cells and to act as an “X-ray” source for taking “X-ray photographs” (actually gamma-ray photos – no difference) of things like pipe welds looking for cracks. Usually a significant amount of radiation is required for these uses and when not is use the “sealed source” must be stored in a shielded container to prevent the radiation from exposing people unintentionally. Unfortunately, Co-60 has a short (5.25-year) half-life. This means that in 5 years the radiation dose rate has halved and may no longer be sufficient for its intended use. The sealed source must then be replaced with a new one. The old one now has to be disposed of properly. From the limited number of facts in this article, it appears almost certain that such a sealed source was improperly disposed of in India. It was not an “atomic waste” issue in the nuclear disarmament conference sense. Nothing to do with nuclear bombs or reactors.
Unfortunately, when it comes time to replace the source, the owner often does not supervise the procedure. This is especially true, sad to say, among medical doctors who are quite above things like taking out the trash. The procedure is left to underlings who, if not properly trained, simply toss the stainless steel “bearing” out in the trash. Or, as probably happened here, the entire lead shield, together with its still very radioactive Co-60 source is sold to a scrap metal dealer. Such has also happened when thieves steal metal to fence. The unsuspecting scrap metal dealer cuts up the metal in the process of recycling it and unintentionally slices open the stainless steel capsule, releasing the Co-60, which then collects in pants cuffs exposing the toes to radiation until the pants are removed. The stuff also collects in shirt pockets and everywhere where it has lots of time to irradiate the unsuspecting victims. The resulting over-exposure to radiation can be quite deadly. Clean up is long, complicated, hazardous, and quite expensive, but it, again, has nothing to do with nuclear waste, bombs, or power.
Oh Dear, what if Deepak had sold it to some moon god worshipers, like those who attacked Mumbi, and said moon god worshipers threw it into your drinking water supply?
If any AQ types read your most excellent post, they might get an idea where to go get some radioactive stuff at gun point.
My mother and others developed and tested Cobalt-60 at Oak Ridge Tennessee.
She died at an early age but was proud of her service and love for America.
Her work produced the first Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Kyushu Japan.
Terrible destruction, but helped save the lives of approx. 1 million American servicemen and 3 million Japanese.
Before the bomb was dropped about 5 million people lost their lives each year due to war and conflicts, after 1945 only about 1 million are lost each year.
My mother helped save the lives of 265 million people,
almost the entire citizenship of America.
But now we have idiots in charge and control of these materials and know not what,
or care whom they destroy next.
Where is communist Russia? Why do you think Russia would assist NK in developing atom bombs, or more importantly a means of delivery without which they are ineffective?
FYI giving NK nuclear secrets is not in the best interest of Russia, due to NK’s proximity. But your stories could catalyze a new Hollywood movie instead of the reboot tripe you watch now.
Sure, it’s all about the “horrors” of radioactive materials, and not about the carelessness/corruption of the regime paid to insure this doesn’t happen.
Co-60 isn’t waste; it’s produced on purpose by irradiating natural Co-59 in a reactor. In fact, you cannot produce Co-60 with nuclear fission because it’s too light.
Actually, you can produce Co-60 in fission. Every nuclide with an atomic mass number less than the fuel is a possible fission product daughter, following a bimodal distribution. Now, the yield for Co-60 may not be that high, but it’s still a fission product.
After one or several American cities are turned into no-go zones or multi-trillion dollar clean-up sites, perhaps we’ll take this menace seriously. With nuclear chasing maniacs in Iran and the nuclear equipped Muslim maniacs in Pakistanjoined by the growing list of Muslim maniacs seeking nuclear materials, it’s only a matter of time.
The McCarthy era fight against the infiltration of communists into America is now widely derided as a black stain in American history. But it’s important to know that Communist China and Communist Russia helped North Korea and Pakistan acquire nuclear bombs…
Todays nexus between the enemies of Liberty on the Left and our worse-than-the-nazis Muslim enemies is stronger than ever. But what is far far worse are the following facts. Communists/Socialists and Muslims now live and practice openly in America without impedence, and they number in the millions. We no longer appear to be a nation capable of recognizing our enemies or willing to fight and destroy them. We are already being eaten from within by these enemies of freedom, but we remain blind.
Because we refuse to act now, it is inevitable that, in our lifetime, a Muslim group WILL attack America with nukes. Muslims across the globe will celebrate in ecstatic glee as they did on 9/11. Kremlin and Beijing plutocrats will smirk and toast each other. If 9/11 sets our example, America will then set about rewarding our enemies by emptying our treasury and sending thousands off to die “winning the hearts and minds” of our mortal, eternal foes. That is if Amerca survives the next catastrophic attack. So much for “winning hearts and minds”. We have lost our minds somewhere along the way.
This is not the first time this has happened.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/01/science/nuclear-spill-at-juarez-looms-as-one-of-worst.html?sec=health
Anyone interested in an overview of what Cobalt-60 is, and what it is used for, can find this easy-to-understand fact sheet at the US Environmental Protection Agency:
http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/radionuclides/cobalt.html
Bhopal all over again, except they cannot use Union Carbide as a scape goat.
Agreed that the author has little understanding of what happened or the underlying issues. Certainly irresponsible handling of hazardous material is to be condemned.
This article is unworthy of Pajamas Media and points out the need for better editorship.
#6. Tallgrass.
Thanks, I was going to point that out.
Also, I think it more appropriate to caal it “radioactive waste” or “material,” since it’s not really nuclear in the sense that the term is used now. I would think, though, that it would be ideal material for a dirty bomb. It is the latter possibility that is much more likely than an actual nuke in terrorist hands, because of lax oversight of Cobalt-60 disposal in places like Mexico and elsewhere.
Co-60 would be the ideal dirty bomb material, but it’s also quite likely to kill you before you finish building it.
It is tragic anytime one of those Cobalt-60 capsules gets lost and into unsuspecting hands. All that can be done is to try and not have that happen, but like a lot of things, being 100% perfect ALL THE TIME can be well nigh impossible.
I disagree. With proper training, controls, and procedures, it is possible to be 100% perfect in matters like these. Transport of radioactive and contaminated materials is a serious matter that requires strict control. But it’s also a sufficiently rare evolution that trained workers can operate with a heightened sense of caution for the entire duration.
It’s not possible to always be at 100% at everything. However, but carefully selecting those things that we DO need to be perfect at, and training for them, we can be at 100% when we need to be.