A lost container with cesium-137 was found in the Irkutsk region

A container with radioactive cesium-137, lost almost a week ago in the Irkutsk region by employees of the TNG Group company, has been found. According to the company, the container containing radioactive cesium remained intact. Previously, the company announced a reward of 200 thousand rubles for the missing container.

Cesium is classified as hazard class four (that is, the danger is unlikely). It is used in the oil and gas industry for geophysical research in wells. It is transported in special protective containers with a thick lead wall.

Two search teams were looking for the container. Company employees found him. A representative of the TNG Group said that the radiation source IGI-Ts-4−2, containing cesium-137, can only be dangerous when the capsule is opened.

“The long-awaited news came from the search for the lost container - the loss was found! By now it is known that the container was not damaged, its integrity was not compromised,” the TNG Group reported on its Telegram channel. Measurements of the protective capsule did not reveal any excess radiation levels.

A container with cesium-137 was lost due to bad weather on the road between the city of Ust-Kut and the village of Nepa in the Irkutsk region from January 12 to 13.

Nobody applied for the promised reward. “This is the best case scenario. I would like to thank everyone who took part in the search. We will conduct a review and thorough analysis of all the circumstances that led to the incident in order to exclude the slightest possibility of its recurrence,” said the company’s general director, Yan Sharipov.

TNG-Group is part of the Tagras oil service holding. The company is registered in Bugulma, Tatarstan.