NNSA RECOVERS RADIOLOGICAL SOURCE FROM MEXICAN BORDER TOWN

The National Nuclear Security Administration recovered a high-activity radioactive source from an oncology clinic in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and transported it to the United States, the agency said late last week. The U.S.-origin cobalt-60 source was transported in a special cask to an unnamed facility in the United States where it will be prepared for final disposition, the agency said. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mexico’s National Commission for Nuclear Security and Safeguards and Mexico’s Radiofisica e Industria helped support the mission to recover the radioactive source. “This operation is part of NNSA’s broad strategy to strengthen both U.S. and global security by keeping dangerous nuclear and radiological material safe and secure,” NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington said in a statement. “This mission is a good example of our long-standing partnership with Mexico to prevent proliferation and secure the materials that can be used by terrorists in an improvised nuclear device or dirty bomb.”