A Robot Recovered Mexico's Stolen Radioactive Material

Mexico's week-long radioactive kerfluffle is over, and it's all thanks to a robot. Last night, a bot handled by Mexican authorities recovered a load of highly radioactive cobalt-60 that had been sitting untouched in a field after being stolen by some unlucky thieves last week.

For those catching up, early last week Mexico was put on high alert after it became apparent that a truck carrying a couple ounces of cobalt-60, which is used in radiation therapy but could also be used in a dirty bomb, was hijacked by a pair of thieves, according to initial reports.

Authorities weren't initially sure if the cobalt-60 was the target, which got the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the US involved in the search. But when the material was found sitting in a field, having been removed from its case, officials deduced that the unwitting thieves didn't realize what they'd gotten their hands on, and had likely ended up dead from radiation poisoning.

Six people have since been arrested, of which five remain in detention, with just one showing mild signs of radiation sickness. All signs still point to it being an opportunistic theft, with the thieves perhaps looking to sell the cobalt-60's container as scrap.

Because cobalt-60 is indeed so dangerous, Mexican authorities couldn't just scoop it off the ground into some Tupperware. They instead had to wait a week for a robot and containers to be delivered and a field to be cleared before being able to seal up the 2.1 ounces of material that were recovered. The whole package is now being shipped off to a nuclear storage facility as was originally intended.

@derektmead