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Abstract:
On
7 July 2005, the head of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Service of the
Georgian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Soso
Kakushadze, told the Reuters news agency that in the past two years Georgian law
enforcement and security services thwarted four attempts to smuggle
highly enriched uranium (HEU) through Georgia.[1] According to the
Associated Press version of Kakushadze’s revelations, the four HEU seizures took
place in Georgia over the span of three to four years.[2] In particular,
Kakushadze stated, “In all these cases, Georgian security officials prevented
attempts to smuggle HEU through Georgia to other countries. The HEU had been
brought to Georgia from abroad.”[1] However, Kakushadze provided no details on
the enrichment level or the origin of the seized HEU.[1] In his comments to the
Associated Press, however, Kakushadze mentioned that there were reasons to
believe that some of the HEU came from South Ossetia, a secessionist region of
Georgia landlocked in the middle of the country and bordering on the Russian
Federation.[2] Kakushadze added that none of the HEU was weapons grade, and that
the seized HEU was not enriched highly enough even to be used as a core for a
radiological dispersal device (RDD), one type of which is popularly known as a
“dirty bomb.”[2] [Because HEU is weakly radioactive, the
seized material could not fuel a potent RDD.]
IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky, commenting on Kakushadze’s statements, pointed
out that Georgia had reported the last of the four incidents but declined to go
into details. A diplomat close to the IAEA, however, said that the Georgian
report submitted to the IAEA did not specify the enrichment level of the seized
HEU.[2] [The IAEA database of illicit trafficking incidents
lists an April 19, 2000 seizure of 0.9 kg of HEU fuel pellets (30% U-235
enrichment) in Batumi, Georgia. The CNS illicit trafficking database also
reports this HEU seizure (abstract
20000260), as well as some
incidents involving low-enriched uranium in Georgia in the past four years (20010300
and 20010650). Most likely
these are the same incidents as mentioned by Kakushadze. However, it is possible
that Georgia indeed reported new cases to the IAEA recently.]
Sources:
[1] Margarita Antidze, “Georgia reports 4 new nuclear smuggling attempts,”
Reuters, July 8, 2005.
[2] George Jahn, “U.N. Nuclear Agency Expands Treaty,” Associated Press; in
The Guardian
online edition, July 9, 2005, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5128514,00.html>.
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