Thai authorities are scrambling to discover a steel tube containing the radioactive isotope Caesium-137 believed to have gone lacking from a power plant at an industrial property in Prachin Buri province in central Thailand on February 23.
Staff noticed the cylinder was missing on Friday and filed a report at Sri Maha Phot Police Station that day.
More stated that anybody with information on the Caesium-137’s whereabouts shall be rewarded with 50,000 baht.
The substance is encased in a metal tube around 5 inches in diameter, eight inches lengthy and weighs 25 kilogrammes.
Staff on the plant mentioned the radioactive isotope is not going to cause harm to health or the surroundings except the cylinder is dismantled.
Caesium-137 is invisible and has no odour. Any body half uncovered to the substance will suffer from necrosis (body tissue decay) from beta and gamma radiation.
Permsuk Sutchapiwat, secretary of the Office of Atoms for Peace – Thailand’s agency responsible for nuclear research – warned…
“If someone breaks the cylinder, when you’re directly uncovered to it, you could be exposed to a high danger of cancer and severe illness, so please don’t break the cylinder.”
According to the CDC…
“External publicity to large amounts of Cs-137 could cause burns, acute radiation sickness, and even death. Exposure to Cs-137 can increase the chance of most cancers due to exposure to high-energy gamma radiation.
“Internal publicity to Cs-137, through ingestion or inhalation, permits the radioactive material to be distributed in the delicate tissues, particularly muscle tissue, exposing these tissues to the beta particles and gamma radiation and rising most cancers danger.”
National Power Plant 5A Co., Ltd., and the Office of Atoms for Peace set up a staff of 50 individuals to search for the lacking radioactive isotope but couldn’t find it anyplace on the plant grounds. They imagine it has been taken away.
The team searched 26 areas in the Si Maha Phot district together with scrap metal yards, second-hand shops and vintage shops to no avail.
The group are increasing their seek for factories in Chachoengsao which purchase metal from scrap metal yards/factories..