Terror from waste

May.04 : Deepak Jain, said to be the owner of two scrap metal shops in the Mayapuri area of West Delhi, was transferred to the Army Research and Referral Hospital, New Delhi, under directions from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). He was suffering from burns caused by radiation from a Cobalt 60 pin he was reported to be carrying in his hip pocket! Deepak Jain fell victim to hazardous waste material (Hazmat) that is illegally imported into the country and unsafely disposed of thereafter.
It would appear utterly farcical to link anything so utterly drab as scrap metal and waste disposal to questions of national security, but in the context of the recent cases of exposure to Cobalt 60 radiation emanating from a junkyard in Mayapuri, which affected seven people, even the most apparently ridiculous questions demand answers.
Cobalt 60 is one of the radioactive isotopes utilised in a wide spectrum of civilian applications, all carried under strictly controlled, calibrated and protected conditions. At the near range of the spectrum Cobalt 60 is used in nuclear medicine for a variety of medical therapies, besides food preservation. But at the far end, Cobalt 60 can also create the Cobalt bomb — a nightmare scenario out of H.G. Wells of the ultimate nuclear weapon — a “super-dirty bomb” reportedly capable of terminating all life on earth, never produced till now, but theoretically studied and certified as feasible.
Hazmat disposal exists in a private subterranean universe, until something like the Mayapuri incident surfaces in the public domain, as the Government of India stumblingly admitted in the Lok Sabha. Safe disposal of radiological Hazmat should obviously be a matter of extreme national urgency, but in India, Hazmat, including radioactive material and medical garbage from hospitals, is routinely disposed off without regulation or least concern for public safety.
The Mayapuri incident is a prime example of this. Scrap containing Hazmat is auctioned off by the chemistry department of the Delhi University with breathtaking casualness indicative of general laxity that pervades the Indian work culture and allows the gravest breaches of even the most serious matters to be overlooked or condoned as matter of routine.
Public memory is proverbially short but Mayapuri is not the first incident of its kind in the country. Media reports indicate that there have been 67 cases of radiation leakages from Cobalt 60 sources, one even involving elevators in Paris! In this case, the elevator buttons were manufactured from recycled scrap metal which contained traces of Cobalt 60 and were apparently sourced from India. It is a good example of the criminal negligence that has been almost systemised in the Indian work culture. One result is a permanent state of nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological (NBCR) hazard in the country where disasters of reckonable magnitude are avoided only by happenstance and the grace of God.
According to various sources, India annually imports approximately 3.5 million metric tonnes of scrap metal worth Rs 5,500 crores, entering the country at an average of 500 container loads daily. It is unloaded at any of the major and minor ports along the coast and transported to Inland Container Depots throughout the country from where they enter a flourishing grey market.
In fact, India has achieved the dubious reputation of being an almost totally unregulated market for scrap from almost any source, domestic or foreign, many of which, primarily in West Asia and Africa, are war zones in active conflicts and offer large quantities of unserviceable war material as scrap. These often include substantial quantities of Unexploded Ordnance by way of bombs, shells and rockets, as well as Depleted Uranium from ammunition.
Though Indian intelligence agencies have reportedly denied any involvement of foreign covert agencies in the Mayapuri radiation leak, Hazmat terrorism can become a new hybrid with NBCR terrorists targeting communities with Hazmat radiation emitters. Such an eventuality will not appear too far fetched when viewed in the context of other non-traditional proxy war offensives on the country ranging from economic assault by massive induction of counterfeit currency, to cyber attacks on high-security computer networks.
Hazmat terrorism has both external and internal dimensions and first lines of defence have to begin at the country’s borders, in this case ports of entry where scrap containers are unloaded. The government admitted (shamefacedly, one hopes!) that X-ray scanning of incoming cargo containers was possible only at Nhava Sheva port, while radiological scanning does not exist. Internal security against Hazmat demands stricter controls and overwatch on disposal of all types of waste within the country.
The recent Nuclear Security Summit at Washington, chaired by US President Barack Obama and attended by 47 heads of state, had focused on nuclear terrorism and the requirement for a concerted international effort to keep nuclear weapons and materials out of the hands of radical terrorist groups and to prevent illegal proliferation of nuclear technology and materials. There is a convergence here, howsoever incongruous, between the rarefied heights of Washington DC and the “nuclear scrapyard” in the slums of Mayapuri.
Nuclear terrorism proper, whether by illegally-acquired nuclear devices or highly enriched material, represents the high end of the terror spectrum, but requiring a degree of sophistication difficult to achieve without a substantial degree of governmental connivance, a misadventure very few recognised governments will risk. Pakistan however is a “broken arrow” in this respect as its track record of illegal proliferation through the Prof A.Q. Khan nuclear Walmart goes to show.
However, Hazmat terrorism with NBCR waste materials is in the low-end category, almost custom-made for use in indifferently regulated environments like India. With a certain level of basic technical knowledge obtained from open sources, including Internet, Hazmat can be used to fabricate very basic “radiation IEDs” with high psychological and panic value impact, whatever be its actual destructive capabilities.
The Mayapuri incident should ring perimeter alarms about the potential threat to the country from Hazmat terrorism and infuse a greater sense of urgency in both Central and state governments to strictly control waste disposal.

Gen. Shankar Roychowdhury is a former Chief of Army Staff and a former Member of Parliament