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 Baghdad reported the stolen material to the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) in November but has not requested assistance to
recover it, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday.
The material, stored in a protective case the size of a laptop
computer, went missing from a storage facility near the southern
city of Basra belonging to U.S. oilfield services company
Weatherford <WFT.N>, an environment ministry document seen by
Reuters showed and security, environmental and provincial officials
confirmed.
A spokesman for Iraq's environment ministry said he could not
discuss the issue, citing national security concerns.
Weatherford said in a statement that it was not responsible or
liable for the theft. "We do not own, operate or control sources or
the bunker where the sources are stored," it said.
The material, which uses gamma rays to test flaws in materials used
for oil and gas pipelines in a process called industrial gamma
radiography, is owned by Istanbul-based SGS Turkey, according to the
document and officials.
 An SGS official in Iraq declined to comment and referred Reuters to
its Turkish headquarters, which did not respond to phone calls and
emails.
The U.S. State Department said it was aware of the reports but has
seen no sign that Islamic State or other militant groups have
acquired it.
The environment ministry document, dated Nov. 30 and addressed to
the ministry's Centre for Prevention of Radiation, describes "the
theft of a highly dangerous radioactive source of Ir-192 with highly
radioactive activity belonging to SGS from a depot belonging to
Weatherford in the Rafidhia area of Basra province".
A senior environment ministry official based in Basra, who declined
to be named as he is not authorized to speak publicly, told Reuters
the device contained up to 10 grams (0.35 ounces) of Ir-192
"capsules", a radioactive isotope of iridium also used to treat
cancer.
The IAEA said the material is classed as a Category 2 radioactive
source, meaning that if not managed properly it could cause
permanent injury to a person in close proximity to it for minutes or
hours, and could be fatal to someone exposed for a period of hours
to days.
How harmful exposure can be is determined by a number of factors
such as the material's strength and age, which Reuters could not
immediately determine. The ministry document said the material posed
a risk of bodily and environmental harm as well as a national
security threat.
DIRTY BOMB FEAR
Large quantities of Ir-192 have gone missing before in the United
States, Britain and other countries, stoking fears among security
officials that it could be used to make a dirty bomb.
A dirty bomb combines nuclear material with conventional explosives
to contaminate an area with radiation, in contrast to a nuclear
weapon, which uses nuclear fission to trigger a vastly more powerful
blast.
 "We are afraid the radioactive element will fall into the hands of
Daesh," said a senior security official with knowledge of the theft,
using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
"They could simply attach it to explosives to make a dirty bomb,"
said the official, who works at the interior ministry and spoke on
condition of anonymity as he is also not authorized to speak
publicly.
There was no indication the material had come into the possession of
Islamic State, which seized territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014 but
does not control areas near Basra.
A State Department spokesman declined to comment on whether the
missing material might be suitable for use in a dirty bomb.
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The security official, based in Baghdad, told Reuters there were no
immediate suspects for the theft. But the official said the initial
inquiry suggested the perpetrators had specific knowledge of the
material and the facility. "No broken locks, no smashed doors and no
evidence of forced entry," he said.
An operations manager for Iraqi security firm Taiz, which was
contracted to protect the facility, declined to comment, citing
instructions from Iraqi security authorities.
A spokesman for Basra operations command, responsible for security
in Basra province, said army, police and intelligence forces were
working "day and night" to locate the material.
The army and police have responsibility for security in the
country's south, where Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias and
criminal gangs also operate.
POLLUTION RISK
Iraqi forces are battling Islamic State in the country's north and
west, backed by a U.S.-led coalition. The Sunni Muslim militant
group has been accused of using chemical weapons on more than one
occasion over the past few years.
The closest area fully controlled by Islamic State is more than 500
km (300 miles) north of Basra in the western province of Anbar.
Islamic State controls no territory in the predominantly Shi'ite
southern provinces but has claimed bomb attacks there, including one
that killed 10 people in October in the district where the
Weatherford facility is located.
Besides the risk of a dirty bomb, the radioactive material could
cause harm simply by being left exposed in a public place for
several days, said David Albright, a physicist and president of the
Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.
"If they left it in some crowded place, that would be more of the
risk, if they kept it together but without shielding," he said.
"Certainly it's not insignificant. You could cause some panic with
this. They would want to get this back."
The senior environmental official said authorities were worried that
whoever stole the material would mishandle it, leading to
radioactive pollution of "catastrophic proportions".
A second senior environment ministry official, also based in Basra,
said counter-radiation teams had begun inspecting oil sites,
scrapyards and border crossings to locate the device after an
emergency task force raised the alarm on Nov. 13.
Two Basra provincial government officials said they were directed on
Nov. 25 to coordinate with local hospitals. "We instructed hospitals
in Basra to be alert to any burn cases caused by radioactivity and
inform security forces immediately," said one.
(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul, Jonathan S.
Landay and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Stephen Kalin;
Editing by Pravin Char/Mark Heinrich)
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