Radioactive materials lost in more than 30 incidents over past decade{uk}

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/05/radioactive-materials-lost-30-incidents


The Gleep nuclear reactor at the former research station at Harwell, where mislaid cobalt-60 was found in a store. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Radioactive materials have gone missing from businesses, hospitals and even schools more than 30 times over the last decade, a freedom of information request to the UK's health and safety authorities has revealed.

Nuclear experts have warned that some of the lost material could be used by terrorists and said there should be a crackdown by the regulators to ensure such "carelessness" is brought to a speedy halt.

Among the big names that have lost potentially dangerous materials are Rolls-Royce at a site in Derby, the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria and the Royal Free hospital in London. Some organisations have been prosecuted but others have got away with little more than a warning notice, papers released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal.

Missing items include a 13kg ball of depleted uranium from the Sheffield Forgemasters steel operation in 2008, plus small pellets of extremely radioactive ytterbium-169 from Rolls-Royce Marine Operations.

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1. We know this because of Obama and Hagel

This is part of the reporting regime that they worked out in 2005. We always knew there would be shortcomings; now we have some idea of what they are. This is actually progress.