VIENNA, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- More than 30 security-related sources of radioactive elements were taken from Lebanon by a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the watchdog said.
An IAEA mission announced it had removed 36 Cobalt-60 sources with a combined radioactive of 3.500 curies. The agency said direct exposure to a single source was powerful enough to kill within minutes.
Robin Heard, a radioactive source specialist and director of the mission, said instability in the Middle East and Lebanon meant the Cobalt-60 sources posed a significant risk.
"If it was stolen it could cause a lot of damage to people," he said.
The IAEA reported the Cobalt-60 was from an irradiator used in the agricultural sector, though it was abandoned 10 years ago.
Heard said the security situation in Lebanon, notably the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, delayed much of the removal work.
Muzna Assi, section head of the radioactive waste management team at the IAEA, said it was important to remove the threat despite the lingering threat of conflict in the region.
"It was a very good thing for Lebanon and for nuclear security in the world," she said.
The IAEA removed the Cobalt-60 from Lebanon to a storage facility in Russia.
