Global Security Newswire

A U.S.-made radiation detection device sold directly to Iran in the early 1990s was seen at a bulldozed area in Tehran suspected to be a former nuclear research site, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 23).

The “whole body counter” — used to measure radiation contamination in humans — was produced by Connecticut-based Canberra Industries Inc., according to a Western diplomat and an independent nuclear expert close to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“There is no doubt that the whole-body counter came from Canberra Industries and under a legal export,” said the nuclear expert, who has analyzed satellite imagery of the razed Lavizan site, suspected by the United States of having been a nuclear weapons-related facility (see GSN, June 18).

The device was sold to a university or hospital in Iran in the early 1990s, the sources said.

An industry source familiar with the equipment said that, while the device was designed for peaceful activity, it could be modified to detect plutonium or other substances.

“Very theoretically speaking, all kinds of things can be done,” said the source.

Nuclear weapons experts said the presence of the device does not necessarily indicate weapons-related activity.

“The presence of the whole body counter there is weird and out of place, but it doesn’t prove that there was any weapons activity going on at Lavizan,” said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, one of the organizations that provided the satellite photos of the razed site. “We need to know how it got there (from the hospital or university) and why,” he added (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, June 23).