FW: Railway Alert Network (RAN) Situational Awareness Message: U.S. Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Advisory – Truck with Device Containing Radioactive Material Stolen in Southeastern Mexico
Sloan, Nick
For your situational awareness…. I apologize for any duplications.
Nick Sloan, CEM, TEM, CBCP, CHS-I
Director of Emergency Management
Environmental Safety & Emergency Management
4005 Crutcher Street | Suite 210 | Dallas, Texas 75246
214-820-1429 Office | 214-820-6979 Fax | 469-321-9935 Cell
Subject: FW: Railway Alert Network (RAN) Situational Awareness Message: U.S. Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Advisory – Truck with Device Containing Radioactive Material Stolen in Southeastern Mexico
UNCLASSIFIED
Railway Alert Network (RAN) Situational Awareness Message: U.S. Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Advisory – Truck with Device Containing Radioactive Material Stolen in Southeastern Mexico
April 16, 2015
Executive Summary:
- Truck containing a radiographic camera with radioactive source material reported stolen in Tabasco state in southeastern Mexico.
- Report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) advises on alert issued by the Mexican Interior Ministry to military and federal police and to civil protection authorities in several states in the country’s southeast region.
- Image of the device and guidelines on actions if found are delineated below.
Detailed Discussion:
Per the attached Situational Awareness Report, issued today, the Department of Homeland Security’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Joint Analysis Center advises on an alert issued for several Mexican states following the theft of “potentially deadly radioactive material used for industrial radiography.”
The alert, issued by the Mexican Interior Ministry, follows the theft of a truck transporting an INC 100 radiography camera in Cardenas, in the southern state of Tabasco
The camera contains Iridium-192 radioactive source material. An image of the camera type follows:
Per the DNDO bulletin, citing the US Centers for Disease Control, “Iridium-192 is a manmade radioactive element that can cause burns, acute radiation sickness and even death.”
The material is used in “cancer treatment or in industrial gauges that inspect welding seams.”
The Interior Ministry alert has been issued to federal police, military branches (Army and Navy), and civil protection authorities in Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Veracruz – states in the country’s southeastern region.
Mexico’s National Civil Protection Coordinator has warned via Twitter posting that anyone who finds this device should “not handle or stay close to it.”
If it is located, an approximately 100-foot perimeter should be established with immediate contact to law enforcement authorities for coordinated response.
Distribution:
Please feel free to disseminate this message, and to use all or portions of its content, as you deem most appropriate to inform situational awareness in your respective railroads and industry organizations.
You may also share this information with colleagues in local and State law enforcement, State fusion centers, and Federal security and law enforcement agencies.
Association of American Railroads
Railway Alert Network
25 3rd Street, S.W.
Washington DC 20024
202-639-2910 Emergency
202-639-2950 Non-Emergency
UNCLASSIFIED
This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) and entity(ies) to whom it is addressed. If you are the intended recipient, further disclosures are prohibited without proper authorization. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden and possibly a violation of federal or state law and regulations. Baylor Health Care System, its subsidiaries, and affiliates hereby claim all applicable privileges related to this information.