Radioactive material found in Pak

Tag : oil containers
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have discovered two sealedcontainers carrying radioactive material in the southern port cityof Karachi, a news report said on Friday.

The neutron source material was found buried in a workshop of thestate-managed Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL)in an industrial district of Karachi, the Dawn newspaper said.

The oil and gas company informed the Pakistan Nuclear RegulatoryAuthority (PNRA) July 2 about the properly waxed and sealedcontainers, a spokesman for the nuclear watchdog was cited assaying.

According to Dawn, the containers have been categorised as "orphanradioactive sources" because the OGDCL had no record of thematerial, which is presumed to be of Soviet origin.

The site where the containers were unearthed was in the use of aSoviet oil exploration company until the late 1960s when the firmwrapped up its operations in Pakistan. A PNRA official said that itseemed the foreign concern brought in the material for oil welllogging, however, "we are investigating it thoroughly".