Global Security Newswire

A high-ranking Armenian official asserted on Tuesday that weapon-grade uranium seized in March in Georgia from two Armenian nationals did not come from his country, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported (see GSN, Nov. 10).

State Committee on Nuclear Safety chief Ashot Martirosian said nuclear security measures in Armenia were "at a level corresponding to international standards," and the three-fifths of an ounce of highly enriched uranium confiscated in the Georgian sting operation could not have originated at the Metsamor nuclear energy plant or any other corresponding site.

Armenian citizens Hrant Ohanian and Sumbat Tonoian were apprehended in Tbilisi on smuggling charges. The two men pleaded guilty at a closed-door hearing earlier this month.

Yerevan's National Security Service in April apprehended Armenian citizen Garik Dadayan. He is suspected of passing the uranium to Ohanian and Tonoian and has been charged under the nation's nuclear trafficking law. Dadayan was detained seven years ago when he attempted to cross into Georgia with 7 ounces of HEU material. He was returned to Armenia and served a few months behind bars.

Georgian officials said the uranium Dadayan is accused of providing to the two traffickers had an 87 percent enrichment grade.

"There is no such heavily enriched uranium in Armenia," Martirosian told journalists. "Nuclear fuel used at the Armenian nuclear plant is of three types: 1.6 percent (enriched uranium), 2.4 percent and 3.6 percent. That is the most enriched uranium existing in Armenia."

"All radioactive materials in Armenia, from the nuclear plant fuel to several micrograms of nuclear materials used by various organizations, are under the control of our agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency," he insisted.

It is not certain the HEU material confiscated in Georgia came through Armenia, he said.

A National Security Service spokesman said his agency was attempting to determine the route the two traffickers took in bringing the uranium into Georgia (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Nov. 17).