Home
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Fulsome tribute to supervisor in paper draws ire
On extending employment benefits to gig workers
Sunday
- Subscribe
Related News
Radioactive device on the loose
Source: Xinhua |
March 27, 2009, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE investigators are searching urgently for a radioactive device lost at a cement plant, but it may have already been sold to scrap metal collectors in a northwestern city.
A lead ball containing Caesium-137, part of a nuclear scale used to make precise measurements, was lost on Monday as workers disassembled the 53-year-old Qinling Cement Co in Tongchuan in Shaanxi Province after it failed to meet environmental protection standards.
Caesium-137 is an extremely toxic radioactive isotope, formed through nuclear fission. It can cause cancer years after it is inhaled, eaten or absorbed into the body.
The device, which emits gamma rays and was used to measure the weight of production materials on conveyer belts, might have been sold among steel scraps turned over to waste collectors and then resold to steel mills, according to officials.
The Tongchuan government has set up an investigation team and ordered a search for the device.
The search will include two steel plants in neighboring Weinan City.
A lead ball containing Caesium-137, part of a nuclear scale used to make precise measurements, was lost on Monday as workers disassembled the 53-year-old Qinling Cement Co in Tongchuan in Shaanxi Province after it failed to meet environmental protection standards.
Caesium-137 is an extremely toxic radioactive isotope, formed through nuclear fission. It can cause cancer years after it is inhaled, eaten or absorbed into the body.
The device, which emits gamma rays and was used to measure the weight of production materials on conveyer belts, might have been sold among steel scraps turned over to waste collectors and then resold to steel mills, according to officials.
The Tongchuan government has set up an investigation team and ordered a search for the device.
The search will include two steel plants in neighboring Weinan City.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
