MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican authorities were searching yesterday for a container of radioactive material used for industrial X-rays that was stolen along with a car in central Mexico this weekend, the latest in a series of such case in the country. The small yellow container of Iridium 192 was inside a red Chevrolet pick-up stolen in the municipality of San Juan del Rio on Saturday morning, the ministry said in a statement.
Provided it is kept in its covering, the material is not dangerous, but if found, a protective perimeter of 30 meters (33 yards) should be set up around the container, the ministry said. “It was classed as a Category 2 radioactive source,” a spokesman from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, based in Vienna, said via e-mail. Category 2 means that if not managed properly, the material could be fatal to someone exposed for a period of hours to days.
