The list of accidents at the end of the entry has a few relating to hospital gear being stolen. They are all pretty horrific, beaten only by the links to radiation therapy accidents killing patients. It's scary stuff.
It's not as if nuclear waste will be "ancient artifacts" for ill informed grave robbers thousands of years from now... But already right now.
I'm slightly surprised that anyone working in a scrap metal place would assume that a glowing metal was supernatural before considering the possibility of something harmful. Surely a scrap place would encounter dangerous substances and metals regularly? I assume that very poor standards, little in the way of education and cultural differences come into it, but this turned into one hell of a disaster.