"Am I therefore become your enemy,because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH...?"
(Galatians 4:16)

Team in China finds missing nuclear scale

BEIJING-Investigators have recovered potentially lethal radioactive material that was lost during the demolition of a cement plant in northwest China, an official said Friday.A radioactive lead ball that belonged to a specialized nuclear scale used for making precise measurements was found in a nearby steel mill.It was lost after the 53-year-old Shaanxi Qinling Cement Co. was torn down Monday in the Tongchuan city in Shaanxi province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.Xinhua said the ball contains Caesium-137, a radioactive isotope whose radiation is capable of damaging the nervous system, causing infertility and possibly death.A publicity official with Qinling Cement, who just gave his name as Mr. Gao, said Friday the government investigation team found the scale in the mill."The production facilities were auctioned to a company called Sichuan Kangna. The company staff mistook the scale for steel scraps and sold it," he said.Xinhua said the investigators combed through area waste collectors before detecting radioactivity around the steel plant.Wang Xuhui, a researcher with the Xi'an-based Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, said the products of the plant were safe, while most the caesium-137 element had been mixed in the slags.Technicians are cleaning the contaminated mill to ensure there is no threat to the environment.Xinhua said the cement plant was dismantled for failing to meet environmental protection standards.Local environmental protection and government officials were not immediately available for comment.
As in the days of Noah...