[/floatr]Mainichi: Man arrested over theft of radioactive material in Chiba
A man who stole a container with radioactive material in it from a company here and apparently dumped the substance in a river in Yokohama has been arrested, police said. Tomonori Iso, 40, was arrested on suspicion of stealing a container of iridium 192 from a storage room at Non-Destructive Inspection Co., in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations against him. "I had a private grudge against the company. I dismantled the container and threw it into a river and the sea in Yokohama," he was quoted as saying. The container, part of a radiation transparency testing device, has not yet been found. In addition to the theft, police are also investigating a possible violation of a law on the safe administration of nuclear reactors...The container, which weighed about 20 kilograms, held iridium with a radioactivity level of 370 gigabecquerels, sealed off in the form of pieces of metal. When dismantled, a fatal amount of radioactivity could reportedly be released, officials said...more...
