nuclear-news

Nuclear smuggling raises risks of a “dirty bomb”

“Real buyers are rare in nuclear smuggling cases, and raise real risks,” “They suggest someone is actively seeking to buy material for a clandestine bomb.”

 an attack with a dirty bomb — explosives packed with radioactive material — would be easier for a terrorist to pull off. And terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, have sought the material to do so. A study by the National Defense University found that the economic impact from a dirty bomb attack of a sufficient scale on a city center could exceed that of the September 11, 2011, attacks on New York and Washington……

Georgia details nuclear black market probes Army Times By Desmond Butler – The Associated Press Dec 9, 2012 “…….. Despite years of effort and hundreds of millions of dollars spent in the fight against the illicit sale of nuclear contraband, the black market remains active in the countries around the former Soviet Union. The radioactive materials, mostly left over from the Cold War, include nuclear bomb-grade uranium and plutonium, and dirty-bomb isotopes like cesium and iridium.

The extent of the black market is unknown, but a steady stream of attempted sales of radioactive materials in recent years suggests smugglers have sometimes crossed borders undetected. Since the
formation of a special nuclear police unit in 2005 with U.S. help and
funding, 15 investigations have been launched in Georgia and dozens of
people arrested.

Six of the investigations were disclosed publicly for the first time
to The Associated Press by Georgian authorities. Officials with the
U.S. government and the International Atomic Energy Agency declined to
comment on the individual investigations, but President Obama noted in
a speech earlier this year that countries like Georgia and Moldova
have seized highly enriched uranium from smugglers. An IAEA official,
who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to comment, said
the agency is concerned smuggling is still occurring in Georgia.

Four of the previously undisclosed cases, and a fifth — an arrest in
neighboring Turkey announced by officials there — occurred this year.
One from last year involved enough cesium-137 to make a deadly dirty
bomb, officials said.

Also, Georgian officials see links between two older cases involving
highly enriched uranium, which in sufficient quantity can be used to
make a nuclear bomb. The AP’s interviews with the two imprisoned
smugglers in one case suggested that the porous borders and the
poverty of the region contributed to the problem.

The arrests in the casino resort of Batumi stand out for two reasons:
They suggest there are real buyers — many of the other investigations
involved stings with undercover police acting as buyers. And they
suggest that buyers are interested in material that can be used to
make a nuclear weapon.
“Real buyers are rare in nuclear smuggling cases, and raise real
risks,” said nuclear nonproliferation specialist Matthew Bunn, who
runs Harvard’s Project on Managing the Atom. “They suggest someone is
actively seeking to buy material for a clandestine bomb.”

The request for uranium raises a particularly troubling question.

“There’s no plausible reason for looking for black-market uranium
other than for nuclear weapons— or profit, by selling to people who
are looking to make nuclear weapons,” Bunn said.

Georgia’s proximity to the large stockpiles of Cold War-era nuclear
material, its position along trade routes to Asia and Europe, the
roughly 225 miles (360 kilometers) of unsecured borders of its two
breakaway republics, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the poverty of
the region may explain why the nation of 4.5 million has become a
transit point for nuclear material. Georgian officials say the
radioactive material in the five new cases this year all transited
through Abkhazia, which borders on Russia and has Russian troops
stationed on its territory……..
U.S. efforts to prevent smuggling have prioritized bomb-grade material
because of the potential that a nuclear bomb could flatten a U.S.
city. But security officials say an attack with a dirty bomb — explosives packed with radioactive material — would be easier for a terrorist to pull off. And terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, have sought the material to do so. A study by the National Defense University found that the economic impact from a dirty bomb attack of
a sufficient scale on a city center could exceed that of the September 11, 2011, attacks on New York and Washington……
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/12/ap-georgia-details-nuclear-black-market-probes-120912/

December 10, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, safety