The authorities of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province will expand the search zone for the radioactive material Cobalt-60 that has gone missing at Pomina 3 steel mill to HCMC, Dong Nai and Binh Duong, said a provincial official.

Mai Thanh Quang, director of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province’s Department of Science and Technology, said searchers are tracking down the missing radioactive material at the steel mill and waste sites in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety has been using modern radioactive detecting equipment in the search.

Regarding a man who reported on April 7 morning that he saw a device looking like the Cobalt-60, the agency’s director Vuong Huu Tan said the man saw the device a couple of months ago.

However, when the inspection team came to the site, it was filled up to ten meters and thus the devices could not detect radiation.

According to Tan, the agency is in charge of licensing sources with high levels of radiation. The repair and maintenance of such sources have to be reported to the agency.

The inspection of the state of radioactive materials is assigned to the Department of Science and Technology of each locality and the agency will have annual inspection plans.

There are nearly 4,000 radioactive sources nationwide, with 2,122 active sources and 1,872 used ones currently preserved in stores.