On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 10:54:49 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 12/7/13, 10:31 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 09:24:16 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

"The Washington Post reports that the carjackers who set off
international alarm bells by absconding with a truckload of highly
radioactive cobalt-60, used in hospital radiotherapy machines, most
likely had no idea what they were stealing and will die soon from
exposure. The robbery occurred as the cobalt-60 was being driven from a
public hospital in the border town of Tijuana to a storage facility in
central Mexico. While waiting for daybreak at a gas station in the state
of Hidalgo the drivers were jumped by two gunmen who beat them and stole
the truck. "I believe, definitely, that the thieves did not know what
they had; they were interested in the crane, in the vehicle," says
Mardonio Jimenez, a physicist with Mexico's nuclear safety commission.
The prospect that material that could be used in a radioactive dirty
bomb had gone missing sparked an urgent two-day hunt that concluded when
the material, cobalt-60, used in hospital radiotherapy machines, was
found along with the stolen Volkswagen truck. The cobalt-60 was found,
removed from its casing, in a rural area near the town of Hueypoxtla
about 25 miles from where the truck was stolen. Jimenez suspects that
curiosity got the better of the thieves and they opened the box. So far
the carjackers have not been arrested, but authorities expect they will
not live long. "The people who handled it will have severe problems with
radiation. They will, without a doubt, die.""
*****
Dumb is as dumb does, right, Scotties?

If you can believe CNN's guy, the Cobalt 60 was mostly depleted, that
was why they removed it from service and the radiation is a fraction
of what real cobalt 60 would be. Still a health concern but not as
much as a fresh load would be.
Maybe it will be a lesson to Mexican bandits not to steal things they
are not sure about tho.


I don't know anything about cobalt-60 and I'm pretty sure I don't want
to know. It seems worth noting, however, that a physicist who I presume
since he works with a nuclear safety commission knows what he is talking
about predicts "severe problems" for the thieves.

I'm actually more interested in the VW truck. I know VW makes a variety
of vehicles in Mexico, but I wasn't aware of "trucks." Is it a variation
of the famous van?

Here, FOESAD, learn something:

http://www.vwtrucksandbuses.com/en/vehicles.aspx

John H. -- Hope you're having a great day!