Where is the bottle with a dangerous radioactive substance that disappeared from a Thai power plant? Employees at the coal-fired power plant in Prachinburi province east of Bangkok noticed the missing 30 centimeters long and 13 centimeters wide steel pipe during a routine check last Friday. On Tuesday, authorities warned of serious health risks from direct exposure.
A search over the weekend failed to find the 25kg tube of highly radioactive cesium-137, said Kittiphan Chitpentham, a member of the national energy company that owns the facility. The company assumes that the tube had fallen from a wall support about 18 meters high a few days earlier.
Do not open the cylinder
Radiation tests conducted at the factory show that he has since been removed from the premises. “We are asking the people of the area to help us find him,” said Narong Nakornjinda, the governor of Prachinburi province. “The radioactive substance is in a closed and protected environment, but if someone opens the cylinder and exposes themselves to this substance, it can cause skin rashes and burns,” he warned.
The missing cylinder is part of a device used to measure the pressure in the plant’s steam column. Authorities have not specified how much cesium-137 it contains. Authorities are trying to identify the person who took the cylinder thanks to CCTV footage, the government agency in charge of nuclear research added, and also advised against opening the cylinder.
A similar incident in Australia
“If someone breaks the cylinder, they directly put themselves at high risk of cancer and serious illness. It is therefore advisable not to break it,” said Permsuk Sutchaphiwat, secretary of the government body. The disappearance of this cylinder comes a few weeks after a similar incident in Australia, where, after two weeks of investigation, authorities found a small radioactive capsule falling from a truck in mid-January.