Dark5 | The 5 Secret Nuclear Accidents Stranger than Chernobyl @dark5tv | Uploaded 3 years ago | Updated 1 day ago
In the early 1980s, a series of bizarre events led to Mexico's biggest nuclear disaster, and it happened only miles away from the United States border.
On December 6, 1983, Vicente Sotelo Alardin and Ricardo Hernandez, two maintenance workers from the Specialties Medical Center in Ciudad Juarez, were told to gather old equipment from a warehouse to be sold as scrap.
The two men then spotted a Picker 3000 radiotherapy cancer treatment machine with no labels or warnings and disassembled it with a hammer.
Unknowingly, Vicente and Ricardo pried apart a nuclear device. The machine contained 6,000 small cobalt-60 pellets, a radioactive isotope that emits high-energy neutrons and gamma rays.
The two workers took parts of the machine to a local junkyard using Vicente's pickup truck. Several pellets fell out of the vehicle along the way and spread nuclear energy all over Ciudad Juarez.
After selling the scraps, the pickup truck broke down and was left behind next to the Rio Grande. After fixing it a few days later, Vicente left the vehicle in his home in a populated neighborhood for weeks.
On January 16, 1984, one of the trucks carrying radioactive material sold at the junkyard passed through New Mexico and was caught by radioactive sensors from the Los Alamos National Security Lab where the Manhattan Project was developed.
The vehicle’s radiation was then measured by authorities and emitted an astounding 1,000 rems, three times the needed amount for nuclear poisoning.
American authorities then contacted the Mexican National Nuclear Safety and Safeguards Commission, which tracked down Vicente's truck and all the pellets.
While the US authorities were able to gather almost all of the radioactive steel that crossed their border, Mexican officers struggled to find all the missing pellets. In addition, the authorities mishandled the truck, as it was temporarily left in a public park secured only by a fence.
As the Mexican government struggled to find all the contaminated material, the United States Department of Energy provided them with a helicopter equipped with sensors. And even though they eventually found most of the pellets, it is believed that thousands of tons of radioactive steel traveled all over Mexico to be used in housing and buildings.
The collected hazardous material is currently stored in a nuclear graveyard in the Samalayuca desert. According to experts, the facility is improperly built, and there is a risk of pollution to underground water deposits.
Although an official report by the Mexican National Nuclear Safety and Safeguards Commission stated that the hospital didn't comply with the requirements to store the machine, the clinic's administration blamed Vicente, who was allegedly coerced into signing a confession admitting that he stole the equipment.
It is impossible to calculate the incident’s impact, as the contamination could be spread all over the country. However, Vicente survived and only suffered mild stomach symptoms, earning him the nickname "The Bionic Man."
In the early 1980s, a series of bizarre events led to Mexico's biggest nuclear disaster, and it happened only miles away from the United States border.
On December 6, 1983, Vicente Sotelo Alardin and Ricardo Hernandez, two maintenance workers from the Specialties Medical Center in Ciudad Juarez, were told to gather old equipment from a warehouse to be sold as scrap.
The two men then spotted a Picker 3000 radiotherapy cancer treatment machine with no labels or warnings and disassembled it with a hammer.
Unknowingly, Vicente and Ricardo pried apart a nuclear device. The machine contained 6,000 small cobalt-60 pellets, a radioactive isotope that emits high-energy neutrons and gamma rays.
The two workers took parts of the machine to a local junkyard using Vicente's pickup truck. Several pellets fell out of the vehicle along the way and spread nuclear energy all over Ciudad Juarez.
After selling the scraps, the pickup truck broke down and was left behind next to the Rio Grande. After fixing it a few days later, Vicente left the vehicle in his home in a populated neighborhood for weeks.
On January 16, 1984, one of the trucks carrying radioactive material sold at the junkyard passed through New Mexico and was caught by radioactive sensors from the Los Alamos National Security Lab where the Manhattan Project was developed.
The vehicle’s radiation was then measured by authorities and emitted an astounding 1,000 rems, three times the needed amount for nuclear poisoning.
American authorities then contacted the Mexican National Nuclear Safety and Safeguards Commission, which tracked down Vicente's truck and all the pellets.
While the US authorities were able to gather almost all of the radioactive steel that crossed their border, Mexican officers struggled to find all the missing pellets. In addition, the authorities mishandled the truck, as it was temporarily left in a public park secured only by a fence.
As the Mexican government struggled to find all the contaminated material, the United States Department of Energy provided them with a helicopter equipped with sensors. And even though they eventually found most of the pellets, it is believed that thousands of tons of radioactive steel traveled all over Mexico to be used in housing and buildings.
The collected hazardous material is currently stored in a nuclear graveyard in the Samalayuca desert. According to experts, the facility is improperly built, and there is a risk of pollution to underground water deposits.
Although an official report by the Mexican National Nuclear Safety and Safeguards Commission stated that the hospital didn't comply with the requirements to store the machine, the clinic's administration blamed Vicente, who was allegedly coerced into signing a confession admitting that he stole the equipment.
It is impossible to calculate the incident’s impact, as the contamination could be spread all over the country. However, Vicente survived and only suffered mild stomach symptoms, earning him the nickname "The Bionic Man."
