Note: no known casualties in these incidents, luckily
Exponentially more safe?
There have already been more major orphan source incidents in the 2020s than the 2010s and we're not even at the decade's halfway point yet.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has previously estimated that approximately 375 sources are reported lost, stolen or abandoned each year, about one a day (Meserve 2000).
The actual number is higher because not all such losses of control are reported.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_orphan_source_incidents
List of orphan source incidents
2020s
January 2023 – Western Australian radioactive capsule incident: A capsule of caesium-137 went missing from a truck in Western Australia somewhere along a stretch of highway 1,400 kilometres long while being transported between a mine in the Pilbara region and a depot in Perth.[60] After an extensive search the ceramic source, with an activity of 19 GBq (0.51 Ci),[61] was recovered without incident six days after it was discovered missing.[62]
March 2023 – A radiographic camera containing radioactive material went missing from a work truck belonging to the Statewide Maintenance Company in Houston, United States;[63] it was returned intact in May 2023.[64]
March 2023 – Four iridium-192 sources (with radioactivity levels of 35.64, 7.61, 1.14 and 0.11 Ci) were stolen, along with the truck being used to transport them, in Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico. An alert covering seven central states was issued.[65][66] The sources were recovered six days later after an anonymous call.[67]
June 2023 - Two caesium-137 sources were reportedly stolen from a mining facility in Nazareno, Minas Gerais, Brazil, where they were being used in density measuring equipment. The National Nuclear Energy Commission has stated that these sources are 300,000 times weaker than the one involved in the 1987 Goiânia accident, with an activity of 5 mCi each (0.185 GBq), or 10 mCi combined (0.37 GBq).[68] On July 10, the two sources were found on a scrapyard in São Paulo, 432 km away from their original location. They were sent to the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute for analysis to determine their integrity, dosage and usage conditions.[69]
May 2024 - Two Americium-241 sources were deposited at a swap shop at Electromagnetic Field Festival in Eastnor, Herefordshire. The sources were recovered for disposal by a participant at the festival.[70] These sources were rated to provide 3.5 μCi.
July 2024 - A van containing five drums of Technetium-99 and Germanium-68 was stolen in São Mateus, in eastern São Paulo. Although the theft happened on the 1st of June, the National Nuclear Energy Commission only made this information public on the 5th of July. Authorities claim said sources have "an extremely low radioactive risk to the general population", and advise the public to keep their distance and call the police if any of the drums is found.[71] As of July 5th, one of the drums, blue in colour, was found open in an empty lot.[72]
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