Bangkok History Highlight: The Samut Prakan Radiation Incident [Season 4, Episode 8]

Greg tells the true story of the 'Samut Prakan Radiation
Incident,' which happened in Thailand in 2000. A piece of medical
equipment that contained the highly radioactive isotope Cobalt 60
was improperly disposed of, and after a series of transactions
ended up in the hands of everyday trash collectors. Unaware of
its true nature, the men cut open the container with an acetylene
torch, unwittingly releasing deadly radiation into the
atmosphere. 


Those involved soon started showing up at local clinics
with strange burns and other mysterious symptoms. Thankfully, the
doctors were on the ball, and soon realized they had a full-blown
nuclear incident on their hands. After alerting authorities, the
Thai Government office in charge of atomic safety jumped into
high gear to stop things from going from bad to way, way
worse.


Greg and Ed dig into the significance of the incident and
how it resulted in improved regulations, agreeing that even
though lives were lost, Bangkok was very lucky to avoid a much
broader tragedy. 


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