Sunday, August 29, 2010

Former Soviet States Are Flushed With 'Dirty Bomb' Materials

A uranium button Photo: CORBIS

Former Soviet States Flush With "Dirty Bomb" Materials -- Global Security Newswire

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 (see GSN, Aug. 25).

"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."

Read more ....

My Comment: One terrible legacy of communism has been the widespread environmental disasters that confronts many states of the former Soviet Union. While the focus is on environmental pollution, the widespread dissemination of radioactive products is a daunting task confronting those who are trying to collect and have an accounting of this stockpile.

Will they be successful .... I doubt it. There is too much of the stuff in too many places for it to be regulated and put under lock and key.

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