Mexican police have recovered a stolen truck that was hauling radioactive medical waste, and a piece of equipment containing radioactive material that was missing has been recovered.  Even though the material was once used to try to save lives under controlled circumstances, a nuclear official says direct contact with the raw stuff will kill a human within minutes.

“If someone finds a big chunk of metal with radiation symbols all over it, they should notify us immediately and don't open it,” was the sage advice earlier today from Juan Eibenschutz, director general of the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards.  Just sayin’, that’s probably good advice for every day of the year.

The white 2007 Volkswagen cargo vehicle was stolen on Monday from a petrol station in Tepojaco, Hidalgo state, north of Mexico City.  The thieves may not have even known it was hauling Cobalt-60 and likely just wanted the vehicle.  It was on its way from a clinic in Tijuana on the US border, which like the rest of Mexico’s public health system is replacing obsolete radiation therapy equipment. 

Cobalt-60 can’t be used to make a standard fission bomb, but it could be used in a so-called “dirty bomb”, a conventional explosive used to disperse radioactive material over a small area.