A watermelon-sized ball of lead containing a nugget of radioactive Caesium-137 has been missing in Tongchuan, Shaanxi, since Monday, probably buried under tonnes of scrap metal waiting to be smelted, an official from the city's Environmental Protection Bureau has confirmed.
The radioactive material was part of a measuring device at an old factory run by Shaanxi Qinling Cement, one of the biggest cement producers on the mainland.