nuclear-news

Theft of uranium 235

Moldova: 3 Sentenced in Nuclear Case http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/world/europe/moldova-3-sentenced-in-nuclear-case.html By REUTERS  May 24, 2012 A Moldovan court sentenced three people on Thursday for their part in illegal trafficking of uranium-235, which can be used in making nuclear weapons. The three were part of a five-member group seized by the police in June during what was said to be an exchange of a cylinder containing the radioactive material for cash. Intelligence services from several other countries, principally the United States, Germany and Ukraine, were involved in the case, the justice authorities in Moldova said.  According to the general prosecutor’s office, a Russian woman was sentenced to three years in prison, and her accomplice got five years. A third person was fined $1,200. The group had been trying to sell about two pounds of uranium-235 for $38 million, the prosecution said. It was not clear to what degree the uranium was enriched.

May 26, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, incidents