2007 NIS Nuclear Trafficking

Table of Contents:

Aug. 1, 2011

2007 Reported Thefts and Seizures

January 15: HEU Seized in Georgia
February 27: Radioactive Isotope Unit Discovered in Krasnodar Region
April 13: Individual Selling Osmium Tetroxide Apprehended in Moscow Suburb
April 22: Two Belarus residents detained in Lithuania on suspicion of smuggling radioactive cargo
May 7: Highly Radioactive Items Discovered in Togliatti
May 8: Eight Men Face Criminal Prosecution in Tajikistan for Attempted Sale of Plutonium-Beryllium Source
May 15: Orphan Container with Plutonium Found in Smolensk Oblast
May 17: Radioactive Parcel Found at Sheremetyevo-I
June 5: Ampoules labeled Cesium-133 uncovered in water well in Kazakhstan
June 5: Radioactive Container Discovered in Stavropol Kray
June 15: Georgian Authorities Thwart Attempt to Transport Plutonium from Azerbaijan to Georgia
June 16: Cesium Seizure in Kazakhstan
June 29: Radioactive Capsule Discovered in Kazakhstan
July 29: Potentially radioactive orphan sources found at a construction site in Arkhangelsk, Russia
August 27: Americium-241 Seizure in Dimitrovgrad
September 7: Belarusian Customs Seize Radioactive Cargo Bound for Russia
September 24: Ukrainian security service detains radioactive parcel at Zhulyany airport
September 28: Radioactive Source Uncovered at a Scrap Metal Receiving Station in Ufa
October 12: Four Sellers of Osmium-187 Detained in Moscow Suburb
October 15: Railroad Car with Radioactive Ore Detained on Ukrainian-Hungarian Border
October 22: Parcel with Object Covered with Radium-266 Discovered in Vladivostok
October 24: Rare transuranic element Lawrencium seized at the Georgian-Turkish border [Expanded story by Alexander Melikishvili]
October 30: Containers with Radioactive Cargo Detained in Vladivostok
November 2: Cesium-137 seized in Zugdidi, Western Georgia [expanded story by Alexander Melikishvili]
November 8: Kola peninsula-bound railway car with radioactive shipment detained in Murmansk
November 13: Belarusian customs officials detain trucks with elevated radiation cargo
November 20: Uranium "Bricks" Found in Philippines, Offered for Sale
November 27: Three cases of radioactive metal scrap are uncovered in Russia
November 28: Uranium seized at Slovak-Hungarian border crossing [includes expanded story link]
November 29: Ukrainian police seizes mercury and cesium-137 from individual
December 3: Radioactive source is found in Kyrgyz scrap metal shipment to Iran [expanded story by Alexander Melikishvili]
December 8: Belarusian owner of cesium-contaminated mushrooms located
December 21: Russia's Federal Customs Service releases trafficking statistics
December 27: Trial of uranium rod thieves to begin in Udmurtia

Other Items (2007)

2005-2010: Canada: Control and Security of Radioactive Sources Improve
March 13: GAO Report on Securing Radioactive Materials
May 21: New Radiation Detection Checkpoint in Ukraine
June 23: United States and Ukraine Sign a Cooperation Agreement to Protect Radiological Materials
September 11: IAEA Releases New Statistics on Illicit Trafficking and Other Unauthorized Activities involving Nuclear and Radioactive Materials
September 19: Energoatom Officials Suspected of Smuggling NPP Parts from Russia to Ukraine
September 30: United States and Kyrgyz Republic Cooperate in Combating Nuclear Smuggling
October 30: Radiation Detection Equipment Installed at the Armenian-Iranian Border

This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, or agents. Copyright © 2011 by MIIS.

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The NIS Nuclear Trafficking Collection highlights proliferation-significant cases of nuclear materials diversion, and includes abstracts on all reported instances of trafficking in nuclear and radioactive materials in or from the Newly Independent States from 1991 to the present.