Oil firm Halliburton said today it has started an investigation involving US and Nigerian government officials over theft of a radioactive device used at its Nigerian operations.
A report by the Wall Street Journaltoday said officials were concerned that the device's radioactive material could be used to create a "dirty bomb," an explosive device designed to scatter radioactivity in a densely populated area.
According to one expert, if the device's radioactive material was combined with a pound of TNT and exploded, an area covering 60 city blocks would be contaminated with a radiation dose in excess of safety guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency, the newspaper said.
The device, used in oil detection, was stolen in early December, a Halliburton spokeswoman said. She said the investigation also involves officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"We are working to locate this radioactive material and we've also made the public aware," she said.
The device was in a locked storage box that weighs about 200 pounds and is the size of a small car engine.
The newspaper said the theft occurred between the Nigerian towns of Wari and Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta, in the heart of the West African country's oil producing region.
IAEA officials have been in Nigeria for two weeks but have so far been unable to determine how the device was stolen, the Journalquoted an IAEA official as saying.