26-002
Fake orphan source
FINAL RESOLUTION
RESOLUTION 26-002
On 10 Feb, 2026, it was brought to the attention of the Board that individuals were manufacturing, via 3D printing and other means, convincing replicas of Co-60 radiation sources, in the form of rods stamped with “DANGER \ RADIATION \ DROP \ & \ RUN \ Co 60 \ 3540 \ CURIES” and the radiation hazard symbol. Real Co-60 is a dangerous product of nuclear fission, and does not occur naturally. Being within arms length of one of these samples, especially a recent one, would mean almost certain death from acute radiation syndrome.
BOARD OPINION
Though it may appear to be a fun, harmless prop, such things are not harmless. They both cause panic and can waste emergency responders’ time, as well as desensitizing the public to legitimately dangerous substances. Don’t do this! Not even as a joke. Even if one were to make one of these props to keep to themselves in their own home, there is an ever-present risk. Were emergency responders to find such an object in a burning building or while responding to a medical call, drastic action would have to be taken, potentially leading to loss of life. Such props also pose risk to waste processing workers, who should not be put in a position where they must, in a split second, determine whether or not what they have found is a life-threatening orphan source or a toy.[1] If one absolutely must create such an object, such as for a film, it should be destroyed immediately afterward such that it is unrecognizable as the hazard it pretends to be.
Anyone who comes across a radioactive source should immediately call the Off-Site Source Recovery Program at Los Alamos: 877-676-1749. OSRP is a program of United States’ Los Alamos National Laboratory.[2]
Making people fear they have an orphan source event on their hands: not whimsical.
FINDINGS
In the case of 26-002 “FAKE Co-60 RODS” the Board finds the matter UNFIT FOR WHIMSY and recommends an immediate and significant reduction in the level of whimsy.
RESOLUTION 01 PASSED ON 15 FEB 2026.
3 AYE: DN, KR, NM
0 NAY.
0 BOARD MEMBERS DECLARED CONFLICTS OF INTEREST ABOVE BACKGROUND LEVELS.
Appendix I “IMAGES”
Image 1 - Fake Co-60 rod for sale on popular internet retailer “Amazon”
Image 2 - 3D printable glowing fake Co-60 rod
mirage, walking. 2026. “i don’t think you should make ‘drop and run’ metal cylinders even for laughs because i work in e-waste recycling and if i find something in….” Post. Bluesky, February 10. https://bsky.app/profile/wolf.observer/post/3meifg22to22z. ↩︎
Los Alamos National Laboratory. n.d. “Homepage.” Off-Site Source Recovery Program (OSRP). Accessed February 11, 2026. https://osrp.lanl.gov/index.html. ↩︎
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