Researchers from a Russian company lost a capsule containing cesium-137. This was reported by the Russian “Paza” media agency, which has sources within the security services. The substance is described as “radioactive and extremely dangerous.”
The incident occurred last weekend, but has only become known now. A team of researchers from TNG-Group (a Russian company that explores and explores oil and gas fields) traveled from the southern city of Ust-Kut to the Khaganda gas field on Friday. There they will work on behalf of Gazprom, Russia's largest company and the world's largest natural gas company.
The radioactive capsule was part of a measuring device. It was the size of a little finger and was packed in a special protective yellow box. But when the research team reached its destination, the radioactive material was missing.
police
It took until yesterday before TNG-Group contacted the police. Officers were sent to the scene to search, but they have not yet been able to find the capsule, according to Baza.
The radiation source contains the unstable radioactive substance cesium-137. This does not occur naturally on Earth, but arises from the nuclear fission of heavier elements, such as uranium and plutonium. It arose, among other things, during the nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Anyone exposed to cesium-137 without protection runs the risk of skin damage, burns, or radiation sickness. Longer exposure can lead to cancer and can be fatal.
look. Science expert Martin Peters explains how dangerous the missing radioactive capsule was
Exactly a year ago, a similar incident occurred in Australia. A small radioactive capsule containing cesium-137 fell there while being transported from a truck. After an intensive, week-long search in remote areas, experts found the “needle in the haystack.”
The children's room
In the early 1980s, according to Baza, a capsule containing cesium-137 ended up in the wall of a residential building in the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. Within a few years, several children in one of the apartments died of leukemia. The family moved, but the new residents also became ill. When the father of the new family conducted a radiation test, the radiation was found to be hundreds of times too high. Then the radioactive capsule was discovered in the wall of the children's room.
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