Uranium Samples are Stolen, Panic Spread across India

A sudden accident plunged the entire country of India into panic. According to a report by India Asia News Agency on the 23rd, a radioactive uranium sample was recently stolen from a research institute in Jharkhand state in eastern India. Although the relevant parties did not disclose the number of stolen samples, they admitted that "if leaked, the radiation radius would be at least 1.5 kilometers." The local police are currently working hard to trace the final whereabouts of this super dangerous product.

According to reports, the "Central Institute of Mining Planning and Design" in Ranchi, the state capital, is the owner of these uranium samples. The institute recently purchased these analytical samples from the Bhabha Atomic Energy Laboratory, a center for nuclear energy technology research in India, for research. However, on December 4, during a routine inspection, relevant management personnel discovered that the samples had disappeared and were taken away by thieves in broad daylight.

What is even more surprising is that the Jharkhand government did not respond to such a major incident. It neither organized personnel to investigate nor issued relevant warnings to local residents, as if the incident had never happened at all.

It was not until the state assembly was held on December 23, when opposition leader Arjun Munda publicly accused Chief Minister Madhu Koda of "turning a deaf ear and showing no concern about the theft of dangerous goods" that the public finally learned the truth of the matter. , the Indian media was suddenly in an uproar.

The Central Institute of Mining Planning and Design, which knew it had made a big mistake, tried to "make a big deal out of a big deal." An official from the institute, who did not want to be named, told local media that the missing uranium sample "was not highly enriched." , "It is of no use at all in the hands of non-professionals." However, under strong pressure from public opinion, Koda had no choice but to deny the opposition party's accusation of "disregard to public interests" and instruct the police to quickly submit a detailed report on the matter.

The local police immediately deployed a large number of police personnel, and the Baba Atomic Energy Laboratory also sent a team of experts to conduct a dragnet search within hundreds of kilometers around the institute in an effort to track down the whereabouts of the dangerous goods.

Praveen Singh, the senior police officer in charge of the case, said after the investigation that the responsibility for the theft of the samples lies entirely with the institute itself. "Since they bought the uranium sample, they have placed it in an abandoned warehouse without any personnel on duty to guard it." Singh said, he estimated that it was probably local people who took advantage of it without knowing it. The radioactive materials were stolen because "some common equipment in the warehouse was also stolen at the same time."

However, the Indian media and people do not think as simply as the police. A long time ago, there was news that radioactive materials were targeted by terrorist organizations in India so that they could be used to launch large-scale terrorist attacks in India. If these dangerous goods end up in the hands of terrorist organizations, the consequences will be disastrous. To take a step back, even if an ordinary thief takes away these radioactive samples, discarding them or reselling them will have a catastrophic impact on public health and the ecological environment.

When many media reported this news, they thought of the nuclear energy cooperation agreement just signed by the United States and India. India has now received approval from the United States to develop a civilian nuclear energy program and can purchase the required nuclear fuel internationally. The development of nuclear energy projects will inevitably face the problem of control and management of radioactive dangerous goods. The loss of uranium samples has revealed the loopholes and deficiencies in India's dangerous goods management. If the relevant departments cannot learn lessons in time, there may still be trouble in the future. It will be bigger and more.