2 dangerous Isotopes of iridium 192 were lost in Papua New Guinea – in 1999

They were taken along with a car, parked in an apartment block in the capital city of Port Moresby

They were recovered by police – after a shootout !

The loss of the dangerous isotopes was never reported to the radioactive-sources authorities !

The police seem to have been deliberately left unaware of the seriousness of the situation at the time of their recovery & were more concerned about the amount of bullet holes in the recovered car “… we think about 18”

These radioactive sources are used to take x-rays of metal pipelines, structural sections & pressure vessels for a branch of industrial inspection known as NDT (Non-Destructive Testing)

The camera is the size of a large handbag but can weigh up to 30kg due to the heavy radiation shielding of lead & depleted uranium – not easy to lose you’d think. The actual sealed-radioactive-source is about the size of a paracetamol tablet & is attached to a small metal chain that is used to remove the source from its protective shielding – by means of a remote wind-out mechanism – to expose the x-ray film & is then wound back into its shielded container. More information can be found at the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) branches for each Australian state; one referenced below

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA)

2 of them were lost because they were stored in the boot of a car instead of the legally required safe storage facility. The car was stolen from the carpark of the company office & accommodation unit in an apartment block in Airvos Avenue, Port Moresby (capitol city of Papua New Guinea)

The dangerous isotopes are continually emitting radiation, even when contained in the heavily shielded camera & were usually kept inside the apartment or the boot of the car instead of an approved storage facility – away from people

There have been many instances of people taking the radioactive source from the camera – sometimes totally unaware of the lethal potential of this pill-sized death-trap attached to a small chain. Many of these people – along with the people they encountered or were with later – received high doses of radiation which made them very sick or caused death

An example of this is an incident that happened in Morocco where 8 members of the public died when a source was removed from the isotope shielding camera. An abridged excerpt is taken from an IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report issued from the Proceedings of an International Conference on The Safety of Radiation Sources & the Security of Radioactive Materials. Jointly Organized by The European Commission, The International Atomic Energy Agency, The International Criminal Police Organization-Interpol, & The World Customs Organizaton, and Held In Dijon, France, 14-18 September 1998

This IAEA conference is from about the same time as the incident in PNG & a report-excerpt is referenced below

www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1042_web.pdf

3.2.7.  Lost radiography source, Morocco, 1984
In this serious accident, eight members of the public died from overexposure 
to radiation from a radiography source. A 1.1 TBq (30 Ci) 192Ir source became 
disconnected from its... shielded container... a passer-by picked up the 
tiny metal cylinder and took it home... and a total of 8 persons (the passer
-by, members of his family and some relatives) died; the clinical diagnosis 
was 'lung haemorrhages'. It was initially assumed that the deaths were the 
result of poisoning. Only after the last family member had died was it sus-
pected that the deaths might have been caused by radiation...
This is a classic example of a radiography accident and of the consequences 
that can ensue when no radiation surveys are performed to ensure that a 
source has returned to the fully shielded position.

Please note that there are many other lost isotope incident reports to be found on the Safety of Radiation Sources websites; & many of these resulted in serious injuries or deaths

The conference also records its concern regarding the possibility of these radioactive sources being stolen for profit – possibly even used to make ‘dirty-bombs’. This can be found in section: Measures To Prevent Illicit Trafficking In Nuclear And Other Radioactive Materials (pg 71 of the above report). Concerns about poorly controlled sources are also addressed in the IAEA dirty-bomb conference in 2003 (link below) as well as numerous other places

COMPENSATION

There is a real possibility that members of the public, or some of the police officers (or the raskols themselves), who were involved in this incident, & being totally unaware of the nature of the contents of the small toolbox sized devices, have since developed unexplainable sicknesses or even died as a direct result. If so, they may be entitled to compensation payouts from this substandard NDT company. This may also apply to people living close to their office in the Airvos Avenue apartment block in Port Moresby

Port Moresby Police Officer’s statement

A copy of a statement issued by a police officer who attended the isotope recovery – & only later was told of the true nature of the recovered items – can be seen on the link below; a transcript excerpt is below that

open pg 1 press to see page 1

open pg 2 press to see page 2

Transcript part

Tavakuin statement title: Statement as to the failure by the Directors of 
Pacific Testing Services, Fabian Lyons & Peter Nelson, to provide adequate
storage for dangerous radiographic substances & / or equipment. The 
subsequent loss & recovery of these dangerous goods. 

... Australian owned company’s shortcuts almost caused a catastrophe in the
Capital City.

Tavakuin summary:
It is my opinion that the directors of Pacific Testing Services, Peter 
Nelson and Fabian Lyons, were extremely lucky that the Port Moresby police
managed to secure these dangerous items before any attempt was made to 
operate, disassemble or otherwise interfere with these extremely dangerous
radiographic items. These items should have been kept under lock and key in
a secure enclosure away from public access. Storage costs would not have 
been great and to the best of my knowledge all it cost these unscrupulous 
people was their deposit on the hire car.

More information to be added later