[xcamel]

I remember a story - might be an urban legend - about medical (cancer) clinics set up in Mexico with radiation machines loaded with cobalt-60. The clinics failed and the machines were scavenged by the locals. By the time officials realized what had happened and made it to the area, they found kids wearing necklaces with “pretty blue glowing rocks” around their necks - very very scary.

[DBrow]

I think you got it right. The Mexican incident involved Co60 that was scrapped. It got melted down and made int slightly hoot rebar and those iron table bases you see in cafes and some nightclubs. A load of rebar going IN to Los Alamos tripped one of the road sensors used to scan trucks going OUT, and then the problem was discovered.

The other famous legend involves an abandoned Brazilian hospital. An irradiator was removed and dismantled, kids played with the grey powder they found inside capsules cased in tungsten (a shield). They sprinkled Cs137 on themselves because it sparkled in the dark.

[blam]

A true story:

In the mid-60's when I was on merchant ships, many were old WW2 freighters and I kept noticing these slots at the bottom of each entrance hatch. I asked an old timer what they were and he said that during the war they contained 'glow plates' that emitted a dull glow at night so that the sailors could locate the entrance when the ship was steaming 'all lights out.'

Anyway, he went on to tell me that after the war many of the sailors took the 'glow plates' and made belt buckles, bracelets and necklaces out of them. Apparently a big problem as many people were burned from the radiation.