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Abstract:
From January to November 2007, Russia’s Federal Customs Service (FCS) used technical radiation detection means to intercept approximately 850 attempts of illicit trafficking of materials with elevated levels of ionizing radiation, an FCS report stated on 21 December 2007. Out of 850 cases – 85 percent were attempts of smuggling radioactive materials onto the territory of the Russian Federation, while 15 percent were attempts to smuggle materials out of the country. In 2006, the FCS similarly registered 480 smuggling attempts, the report noted. The FCS employs a variety of technical radiation detection means throughout Russia. For example, stationary detection systems “Yantar” are deployed on 195 border checkpoints, which is approximately 70 percent of the total number of checkpoints. By 2010, the FCS hopes to install stationary detection equipment on the remaining 30 percent of the checkpoints through either the FCS budgetary means or under the aegis of the U.S. Second Line of Defense program.

Similarly, the branch of the FCS on Russia’s Southern borders issued a report on 19 December 2007, which indicated that during the first 10 months of that year, the number of attempts to transport materials with elevated ionizing radiation on the Southern borders neared 2,300 incidents. In 2005, the report noted, FCS intercepted just 1,356 smuggling attempts at the same checkpoints. At present, FCS deploys 281 stationary radiation detection systems at 45 Southern check points in addition to 440 portable detection units – some of this equipment was acquired through the U.S. Second Line of Defense program. An additional 10 check points await upgrades in the 2010 timeframe. [1]

Finally, in December 2007, the Russia’s Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Oversight (Rostekhnadzor) announced publication of a Russian-language variant of the IAEA manual Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material. The manual, developed by experts at the Nuclear Safety Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in close cooperation with Rosatom and Rostekhnadzor, seeks to establish standards of safety that provide an acceptable level of control of the radiation hazards to persons, property and the environment that are associated with the transport of radioactive material. [2]

Sources: [1] “Yuzhnyye granitsy zaschischeny ot radioaktivnoy kontrabandy,” Federal Customs Service, 19 December 2007, <http://www.customs.ru/>.[2] “Resheniyem rukovoditelya Rostekhnadzora Konstantina Pulikovskogo Federalnaya sluzhba po ekologicheskomu i atomnomu nadzoru vpervie vvela v deystvie rukovodstvo po bezopasnosti “Obespecheniye bezopasnosti pri transportirovanii radioaktivnykh materialov,” Rostekhnadzor, 13 December 2007, <http://yutu.customs.ru/ru/reviews/index.php?&date695=200712&id695=17492>. {Entered 01/22/08 PT}

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The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies has not verified the accuracy or veracity of this report or the facts presented therein. For more information on the material in this database please contact Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova.

 

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, agents. Copyright © 2008 by MIIS.