Abstract:

The Russian Procurator General's office has almost concluded its investigation into a smuggling ring operating at the Elektrokhimpribor Combine (located in Sverdlovsk-45, now called Lesnoy) from 1990-1992. The article claims that the case involves the largest diversion of 'radioactive material' in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to the article, the ring stole isotopes valued at a minimum of $500 million. The ring consisted of nine employees of the Elektrokhimpribor Combine: Kasheyev, director of the production of stable isotopes; Yaroslavtsev, his deputy; Tunin, the head of the technical section; Tuinov, an engineer; Konoplina, the head of the chemical production department; Usoltsev, her assistant; Dubinin, a specialist in finished chemical production; Chernousov, a specialist in chemical apparatus and production; and Korolev, the deputy head of the financial department of the combine. They diverted stable isotopes from the combine, such as thallium-203, zinc-68, rubidium-87, ytterbium-168, and tantalum. According to the article, until recently the Elektrokhimpribor Combine and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States were the only two facilities in the world that produce these isotopes, for which there is high demand for medical and technical purposes. Investigators from the procurator's office told Profil that the diversion, smuggling, and marketing of the stolen isotopes was handled by the ring like a 'very well organized business.' Although the article says the exact amount of material diverted by the ring is difficult to determine, they stole at least 895 grams of thallium-203, 105 grams of rubidium-87, 3.3 grams of yttrbium, 19 grams of zinc-68 and 8.1 kg of tantalum. The investigation has revealed that the members of the ring used their positions in the plant to produce 'unaccounted for' isotopes, beyond the official reported production of the plant. As members of the ring worked at each link in the production chain at the plant, they were able to establish a parallel isotope production process, producing isotopes identical to those that the plant turned out as part of its normal production process. Although the director of the Elektrokhimpribor Combine, Leonid Polyakov, refused to answer questions from Profil, an anonymous worker at the plant told the paper that the ring produced the isotopes using waste materials from the normal production process, which should have been disposed of. According to investigators from the procurator's office, the ring's procedures 'would never have aroused suspicion on the part of the plant administration.' Apparently the ring attracted the attention of police by ostentatiously spending the proceeds from the diverted materials on expensive cars and vacations. An investigator from the procurator's office said that the ring was so well-organized that 'if the criminals had been more modest, and not put their good fortune out on display, they would never have been caught.' The criminal case against the ring was opened on 18 April 1993, following the arrest of Usoltsev. When police detained Usoltsev on a Serov-Moscow train, he was carrying two metal canisters containing zinc-68 and thallium- 203 worth about $3 million. Usoltsev subsequently confessed, leading to the arrest of the remaining ring members. The isotopes, accompanied by false documentation, were sold to trading companies in Moscow and Siberia, who exported them to companies in Canada, Australia, and the United States. Moscow officials are now cooperating with police in those countries to trace the sales. An official of one of the Moscow trading companies involved told Profil that his firm had done nothing illegal, and attributed the investigation of the affair to the machinations of unnamed competitors who want to squeeze his firm out of the market.

Abstract Number:  19980370
Headline:  I teper nash mirnyi atom vsya yevropa kroet matom,
Date:  25 May 1998
Bibliography:  Profil, 25 May 1998
Author:  Olga Kazanskaya and Viktor Klochkov