Shanghai Daily news

Officials in Shaanxi Province yesterday ordered a steel factory to shut down production and seal up all of its slag and billet after it melted down a stolen canister of radioactive material.

The material, cesium-137, was stolen from a power plant in the area on February 6.

Police in the city of Pucheng announced yesterday they have detained three men in connection with the theft.

Zhang Long, director of Pucheng Public Security Bureau, told a press conference that the cesium was found in a steel plant in nearby Fuping County.

After the radioactive material was reported missing from a power plant building site, police began searching a five-kilometer radius around the construction site.

Last Saturday, technicians armed with Geiger counters detected radiation at the steel plant, which often bought scrap metal from nearby companies, according to police officers.

A later test confirmed the stolen cesium was the source of the radiation, but police say it had already been smelted by the time it was discovered.

"One of the steel-smelting furnaces in the steel plant and some slag have been contaminated," said Wang Jinxuan who helped identify the source of the radiation.

He said there are three main areas of radiation in the plant, including a main smelting furnace and a back-up furnace.

Owing to the high radiation, authorities have banned everyone from entering the contaminated site.

The Provincial Hygiene Supervision Bureau has ordered all steel workers who came into contact with the steel-smelting furnaces to register for a medical check-up with local authorities.

A reporter covering the case for Chinese Business View told Shanghai Daily yesterday that police believe the suspects, all local villagers, stole the radioactive material while strolling around the power plant.

They mistook the football-sized canister filled with cesium-137 for scrap metal, but did not open the container.

A recycling vendor bought it from the farmers and then passed it on to the steel plant where the deadly substance was finally smelted, he said.

Police say they are still investigating the case and are trying to track down several other people who are suspected of coming into contact with the stolen radioactive goods.