[stolen] Cesium found, steel plant closed [in China]

[Kellanved]

Officials in Shaanxi Province yesterday ordered a steel factory to shut down production and seal up all of its slag and billet after it melted down a stolen canister of radioactive material.

The material, cesium-137, was stolen from a power plant in the area on February 6.

...
"One of the steel-smelting furnaces in the steel plant and some slag have been contaminated," said Wang Jinxuan who helped identify the source of the radiation.

He said there are three main areas of radiation in the plant, including a main smelting furnace and a back-up furnace.

...
http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/1182/class000100022/hwz181908.htm

[Atlant]

1. This has happened before (radioactive scrap into scrap iron).

IIRC, another time it was cobalt-60 in Mexican scrap steel made into
American homegoods.

And then there's the unfortunate incident of the kids opening the
Cesium-137 container from a radiotherapy machine and rubbing the
cool glowing powder all over their bodies...

(Google for either of these; they're both famous nuclear fuck-ups.)

Atlant

[0007]

2. Holy Smoke - then the products made from this iron head to Wall-Mart

[Art_from_Ark]

3. Lax environmental oversight overseas

is one reason why American companies are so eager to shift production there. It's unnerving to think what kind of crap may be escaping detection and making it to market.

[Gin]

4. wonder what products are/were made with the contaminated steel?

gin