NTI - Global Security Newswire, 27 Aug 2010. The bust last month of an alleged would-be uranium smuggling ring demonstrates how widespread and vulnerable to theft radioactive materials are in the former Soviet Union, Agence France-Presse reported today.
"Hundreds of thousands of [metric] tons of uranium lie in storage at industrial sites, one can take bagfuls of them," Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said. "There are people who try to sell them at a high price and most often they fall into the hands of security services."
That was the case in July when several suspected smugglers were arrested by Moldovan authorities for attempting to traffic about 4 pounds of uranium 238 on the black market. The uranium's radiation level was 60 times greater than what is considered safe for people, officials said.
The seized material "could be used to make a dirty bomb that could cause contamination and panic," Russian military specialist Alexander Golts said. Radiological "dirty bombs" use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials.
Ukraine's security agency has disclosed confiscation of radioactive substances on three occasions since last year. In March, nine individuals were apprehended in the Donetsk and Lugansk territories for allegedly attempting to traffic 5.5 pounds of uranium 235 and 238 and strontium.
Last December, authorities recovered a container "with radioactive materials" in the Lviv region.
In April 2009, three Ukrainian citizens were apprehended in the Ternopil area while transporting nearly 9 pounds of plutonium. The plutonium was called suitable for use in a dirty bomb.
Four years ago, an accused Russian smuggler was arrested in Georgia as he tried to sell 100 grams of nuclear weapon-grade uranium to a man he believed was a member of an extremist Islamic organization.
"The entire territory of the former Soviet Union is awash in radioactive material which was used in Soviet times for some 30 various ministries and services, in medicine or agriculture," Golts said.
"Most often those materials are enriched to just 3 to 5 percent, which cannot be used to make nuclear weapons," he added.
Still, the radioactive material poses a threat as would-be smugglers are likely to store items in areas where unsuspecting individuals are likely to pass nearby, Golts said.
Materials with a higher enrichment level "are under a very different level of protection," he said.
Some analysts do not believe unsecured nuclear materials represent a threat.
"There is no real black market for nuclear materials, there is trafficking in radioactive substances," France-based expert Bruno Tertrais said. "In most cases of sales - or attempted sales - of nuclear substances, there are only a few grams being sold, too little by far to make a bomb". Back |