@Natanox Yeah, that's not great.
At the same time, if the OPs follow-up is correct and that was Thorium, it has a long half-life and emits alpha radiation, which gets stopped by the outermost layer of skin. The scariest comment really is the mention of black paint peeling off the core - inhaling/scattering any dust or particles would be really really bad.
My bet is still on this being a reddit joke, but I'm hoping for the best here.