AP News Alert:
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) Authorities say the three suspects who tried to sell uranium for $1 million are a Ukrainian and two Hungarians.
I have finally located a
story buried in Yahoo News's world news section...
Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian arrested in an attempted sale of uranium were peddling material believed to be from the former Soviet Union that was enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty bomb," authorities said Thursday.
The three, who were arrested Wednesday in eastern Slovakia and Hungary, were trying to sell just under a pound of uranium in powder form, said 1st Police Vice President Michal Kopcik.
"It was possible to use it in various ways for terrorist attacks," Kopcik said.
One of my biggest concerns with the Bush administration has been how little they have done on the non-proliferation front in dealing with Russia on Soviet era weapons. And why hasn't Putin done more to secure this material?
Police spokesman Martin Korch could not say whether the seized material had been enriched to weapons-grade.
"I can confirm that it was uranium-235 and uranium-238," he told The Associated Press.
Slovak and Hungarian officials were to hold a news conference later in the day
Authorities said Wednesday they confiscated the uranium during the arrests of two suspects in eastern Slovakia and a third in Hungary. It remained unclear to whom the suspects were trying to peddle the material.
Uranium is considered enriched if it contains more than 20 percent uranium-235, the fissile form of the element. It is considered weapons-grade if it contains at least 85 percent uranium-235. Natural uranium contains less than 1 percent of the fissile isotope, and uranium-238 is a lower grade form of the element.
The arrests heightened concerns that Eastern Europe could be a source of radioactive material for a so-called "dirty bomb," which would use conventional explosives to scatter radioactive debris.
To be perfectly honest, I am surprised this sort of thing hasn't happened sooner...
Richard Hoskins, the IAEA official who administers the database, said that last year alone the U.N. nuclear watchdog registered 252 reported cases of radioactive materials that were stolen, missing, smuggled or in the possession of unauthorized individuals — a 385 percent increase since 2002.
But Hoskins cautioned that the spike probably was due at least in part to better reporting and improved law enforcement efforts. Of the 252 cases, about 85 involved thefts or losses, and not all the material was suitable for use in a weapon, he said.
Even so, "there are far too many incidents of material not being properly controlled," Hoskins told AP in a telephone interview. "If we can do a better job, we can help keep these materials from falling into terrorist hands."
Concerns about nuclear smuggling have generally been focused on Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union, where security at nuclear-related industries deteriorated after the 1991 Soviet collapse.
If the United Nations ever were to be relevent, here is an issue they should have done something about...but didn't.
