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Learning From Mayapuri Radiation Leak |
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Written by Rajeev Sharma
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Monday, 17 May 2010 |
 Did
the discovery of radioactive materials give ominous ideas to the
jihadis?
The early April discovery of radioactive material in the Mayapuri
industrial area of West Delhi has sent a chill through Indian security
authorities. Although it has finally been determined that gross
carelessness rather than terrorism was behind the incident, officials
are concerned that publicity about the incident may have given food for
thought to terrorists.
The incident is emblematic of India's lax
enforcement of radioactive waste-disposal laws at a time when the
threat of nuclear terrorism is a growing concern, especially given the
audacity of the attacks on Mumbai luxury hotels and the train station in
November of 2008 that took 180 lives. The leak came to light a week
before the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. A number of
officials at the conference went on record expressing fears that
terrorists could use weapons of mass destruction such as the sowing of
nuclear waste without actually building a bomb.
The radioactive
material, later identified as cobalt-60, apparently first arrived at the
shop of a scrap dealer in the industrial area on March 12. The scrap
dealer and eight others were hospitalized. The first – and so far only
-- death in this case took place some six weeks later when the scrap
dealer died of radiation poisoning. It was not until April 5 that that
the radiation source was discovered.
As officials from the
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre (BARC) got involved in unravelling the mystery, murkier
scenarios were considered. The immediate concern of the Indian
authorities was the timing of the incident in a city that is less than
five months away from hosting the Commonwealth Games. The questions that
were tossed about in security circles were: was the Mayapuri incident a
low-key testing operation? Was it a dry run for a large-scale nuclear,
biological and chemical (NBC) strike or a dirty bomb attack by
jihadists?
The investigations ended in an anticlimax and no
terror angle was found. The origin of the cobalt-60 was traced to Delhi
University's chemistry department, where it had been lying unused for 25
years. The Cobalt-60 was in a "gamma irradiator" which was bought in
1968 from Canada and had not been in use since 1985. It was bought by
scrap dealers in Mayapuri through an auction in February 2010. The scrap
dealers dismantled the equipment and in the process, the lead covering
on it was peeled off leading to radiation exposure. With this in mind,
the Indian government is now seeking to tighten the rules on scientific
handling of radioactive materials. Cobalt-60 is used for medical
radiotherapy and industrial radiography among other things.
But
the damage has already been done with Delhi University's carelessness.
Publication of the Mayapuri incident, security personnel feel, has given
an idea to terrorists. The National disaster management team has
already held a series of closed-door meetings with sleuths and NBC
warfare experts to thrash out a plan of action in case ultras try to
unleash radiological terrorism. A top NDMA official this writer spoke to
said the NDMA is leaving nothing to chance on this score.
Terrorists
can strike in any of the following manners, and more:
Substances
like cobalt-60 and cesium-137 can be made to reach the scrap markets in
a bigger, planned manner. Such substances are readily available in
virtually every country in the world as they have legitimate medical,
commercial and industrial uses. The International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) has gone on record to warn that such radioisotopes are almost
certainly not beyond the reach of even moderately capable non-state
actors.
Such substances can be used in powdered form and thrown
into the air or mixed into drinking water supply at the targeted venue
(say, in one of the stadia during the Commonwealth Games in October
2010) with catastrophic results. The radioactive material in the
Mayapuri incident was in metallic form and thus the clean-up operation
was easier for the authorities.
Nonetheless, the find was
chilling. The authorities are maintaining total secrecy about their
plans and preparations for dealing with the NBC threat from terrorists
during the New Delhi Commonwealth Games – and understandably so.
The
radiation leak came to light just about a week before the Nuclear
Security Summit in Washington. From the point of view of the
international community, the larger question is not whether a dirty bomb
attack can happen but why it hasn't happened yet.
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