Abstract:

Officers at the Zhanazhol checkpoint on the Russian-Kazakh border detained three vehicles with radioactive cargo on 1 July 2008. The vehicles, a Volvo and two Iveco-model lorries, contained a cargo of metals with an excessive level of gamma radiation – 139-fold (34.3 microsievert/hour), 37-fold (12.5 microsievert/hour) and 152-fold (51.6 microsievert/hour).The sender of the cargo was Ecominerals limited liability partnership, based in Temirtau, Karaganda region of Kazakhstan. The cargo, later reportedly determined to have been 60 tons of the insulating material vermikulit, was en route to the United Kingdom.[1] This case was reportedly the fourth incident of radioactive cargo seizure at the checkpoint in 2008.[1]

On 7 July 2008, Zhanazhol checkpoint customs officials similarly detained two vehicles, en route from China to Russia, with a cargo of approximately 39.2 tons of ceramic granite. The cargo, which set off the checkpoint’s technical detection system, exceeded the acceptable ionizing radiation levels 18.5 times. The vehicles were sent back to China with a customs and police escort. [2]

Abstract Number:  20080060
Headline:  Kazakh customs officials detain vehicles with radioactive cargo on Russian-Kazakh border
Date:  1 July 2008
Bibliography:  "Cars carrying radioactive metals detained in Kazakh north," 1 July 2008, Open Source Center document CEP20080701950140.
Orig. Src.:  Interfax-Kazakhstan.
Material:  Contaminated materials

Sources:

[1] Elena Chernyshova, “Vermikulit Vspuchennyi,” 4 July 2008, Ekspress K, Integrum Techno, www.integrum.ru.
[2] “Na tamozhennom postu Zhanazhol zaderjany dve mashiny s radioaktivnym gruzom,” Kazakstan Segonya, 8 July 2008, Integrum Techno, www.integrum.ru. {Entered 7/15/08 AL}