Radioactive Waste Came from Abroad, Indian Officials Say

Last week, I reported on the disconcerting case of a bunch of radioactive Cobalt 60 turning up in a West Delhi scrap dealer’s shop, resulting in the poisoning of at least six people and a considerable amount of panic.

Now, The Wall Street Journal talks to nuclear scientists investigating the incident. They say that while they have not yet determined the source of radioactive metal, they are certain that it did not come from an Indian source. (They base this largely on the shape of the material it seems.)

They are now looking into the possibility that the Cobalt 60 was improperly imported into India in a heap of other scrap material. The story also says that the authorities combed the neighborhood where the radiation was initially detected and removed radioactive materials from at least 10 locations! That’s also not very comforting.

As I mentioned in my initial post on this – the developing world has unfortunately become the dumping ground for all sorts of hazardous waste from the developed world. In which case, part of the answer may lie, not in better enforcement in countries like India, where enforcement is always more problematic, but in better enforcement of export laws back in the West.