Posted on 09/16/2006 7:26:46 PM PDT by blam
'Dirty' bomb fears over world's most insecure nuclear facility
By Bojan Pancevski in Vienna
(Filed: 17/09/2006)
More than two tons of radioactive material stored in a rundown research facility in Serbia is an easy target for terrorists seeking to build a "dirty" bomb, according the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.
Nuclear inspectors have branded the lightly-guarded store of highly enriched uranium, from a Communist-era reactor which closed 22 years ago, the world's most dangerous disused nuclear site – because of the potency of the material present, and because some is prone to leaking.
Experts warn that the facility could be targeted by terrorists intent on stealing material
The outdated storage facility is on a 48-acre site at the Institute of Nuclear Sciences in Vinca, 10 miles outside the capital, Belgrade, surrounded by a rusty barbed-wire fence and secured only by a small number of armed guards.
Michael Durst, the special programme manager at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Vinca site topped the global priority list of unsecured uranium sources because it combined the threats of nuclear proliferation and environmental disaster.
He said: "Vinca is unique in the amount of uranium stored within its facility – at least 2.5 metric tonnes – and the fact that about 30 per cent of it is leaking. It would be easily accessible to an organised group.
"There are other sites in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, as well as elsewhere in the world, but the amount of nuclear material, the accessibility and the leakage makes Vinca the most dangerous. It requires immediate action."
Much of the uranium is said by officials to be stored in a 75ft pool, filled with murky water, in the institute's reactor building. Other nuclear material stored at the site includes plutonium and highly radioactive spent fuel by-products.
This week, the IAEA will appeal to international donors for funds to pay for decommissioning the site and moving the most dangerous material to Russia for disposal. A joint project by the IAEA, the Vinca institute and the Serbian authorities to secure the material has stalled for lack of funds.
"The Vinca staff are highly professional and very co-operative," said Mr Durst, "But the budgets of the institute, and of the whole country, are very limited. They are keeping the whole thing together with gum and tape."
The institute was founded in what was Communist Yugoslavia in 1948, with the help of Soviet scientists. Its nuclear reactor was shut down in 1984, but there are still more than 800 workers at the site, 400 of them scientific staff. IAEA officials are concerned that low-paid employees might be tempted to sell some of the material themselves, or allow terrorists access to it.
Mr Durst said: "It would need a well-organised operation to transport it without endangering the lives of those involved. But if someone were willing to risk their life, it could be done."
Obrad Sotic, a former operations manager at the site, said: "For terrorists ready to commit suicide it wouldn't be a problem to steal a lot of these fuel elements, which are very light, and use them as a dirty bomb."
Thousands of spent fuel rods, made of the highly radioactive mixture of uranium and plutonium, are stored at the site.
While making a nuclear bomb out of the material would be a complex process, requiring special facilities and expertise, a single fuel rod tied to conventional explosives would be enough to create a dirty bomb, which would scatter radioactive debris across a wide area, said Mr Durst.
The IAEA estimates that the cost of disposing of the nuclear material could be as much as £50 million.
The material would be taken to a Russian disposal facility as, according to international agreements, spent nuclear fuel is disposed of in its country of origin, in this case the former Soviet Union.
Aleksandar Popovic, the Serbian science minister, said: "We need to close the financial gap to remove the fuel. We need to ensure Vinca is safe."
More than 100lb of highly enriched uranium fuel has previously been removed from Vinca by the IAEA and the American Russian and Serbian governments. It was transported to a disposal facility near Dimitrovgrad, in Russia.
But 4,000 people living in the village next to the complex are under constant threat of radiation leakage.
Predrag Milic, 43, a villager, said: "People that live in the area are scared of being so close to the institute."
Forgot to include this in the article.
I would like to thank the Telegraph for um...telegraphing...to bad guys where to get nuclear material if they don't already have it.
Thanks guys, good work.
Dear Osama, if you would like to attack the US with a dirty bomb please follow these directions.
(please note: the sarc)
I'm surprised the UN didn't give the terrorists the address and directions! Heaven knows they wouldn't do a thing to secure it.
Actually they might send 2 or 3 French troops, but as soon as a couple of muslims walked up and asked politely for entrance they would be immediately ordered to pull out.
I mean what i said.
I suppose it is too much to ask Russia to use some of their oil money to clean up their mess...
The real danger is sale by the employees.
I wouldn't be surprised if the New York Times publishes an annotated reprint, replete with detailed road map, security disposition, etc., and the blamed GWB.
First, would Serbs sell them directly to Jihadis, for whatever reason? That means that some middlemen with plausible cover have to come in as intermediaries. Who would that be?
Russian organized crime.
I am no fan of the enemedia, but note that this article may be more beneficial in getting the problem solved than it is to the Koranimals lurking in the shrubbery.
It seems like the world as a whole would benefit from the rapid removal and destruction of these materials.
The US has done a great deal to solve many problems like this worldwide that have not risen into the press. Sharp eyes are watching nuclear materials and looking for signs of interest in them. Remember that the President said that many battles will be fought in the shadows.
I am not sure why this site has bogged down, but suspect that there is more to it than the article says. In that case, a little press may be helpful in dynamiting a US or UN or whatever bureaucrat off his plush bottom and into action.
Also -- it might be easy for a suicide jihadi to steal this stuff from the site, but not so easy for him to take it through borders, for reasons I sha'n't discuss.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
This dirty bomb thing is so over blown it's ridiculous.
L
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.