Nov

HAZMAT – Africa – South Africa

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EDIS Number: HZ-20101112-28499-ZAF
Date / time: 12/11/2010 04:34:05 [UTC]
Event: HAZMAT
Area: Africa
Country: South Africa
State/County: State of Western Cape
City: Cape Town
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:

More than 200 sources of radioactive material have been lost, and this could be placing the public’s health at risk. This emerged at a portfolio Health Committee meeting in Parliament on Wednesday. Exact numbers of lost sources are uncertain, as the Radiation Control Directorate is inadequately staffed and its database has not been properly updated. Director-General of Health Precious Matsoso said she was very concerned about the lost radiation filters. Her department is working on tracing them and have increased staff capacity. Democratic Alliance spokesperson Mike Waters went a step further and said the lost filters were a national emergency and that finding them required the assistance of police, the army and the private sector. Waters said investigations into lost filters have shown 239 were missing, but he believed that figure could be even higher. According to the DA, dirty bombs and international gangs could become a reality in South Africa if the Directorate for Radiation Control did not get its act together. In July the Hawks arrested four men trying to sell radioactive material called Caesium-137. DA spokesperson David Maynier said a crude explosive device could have radioactive material such as Caesium-137 packed around it to create a dirty bomb that could have devastating consequences.