The US government has trouble keeping track of radioactive material
In March 2017, thieves made off with radiation detectors and small disks of radioactive plutonium and cesium that were stashed in the back of a rental car, the Center for Public Integrity reported on Monday. The gear had belonged to two Idaho National Laboratory employees, who’d been sent to recover radioactive materials from a lab in Texas.
The employees’ tools for the mission? Radiation detectors and dime-sized disks of plutonium and cesium used to make sure the detectors were working properly. But the entire kit was stolen from their rental car when it was parked at a Marriott in San Antonio, Texas. The theft was immediately reported to law enforcement and the Department of Energy, and it didn’t put the public at risk, according to a...