Car with nuclear cargo denied entry (Customs just told them to go back to Azerbaijan)

LA Times ^ | June 20, 2007 | Times Wire Reports

[PapaBear3625]

Georgian [the country south of Russia, not the US state ] customs officers sent a car carrying a mixture of plutonium and beryllium back into Azerbaijan after foiling an attempt to smuggle the materials over the border, Georgian television reported.

Customs officials found the materials, which can be used in nuclear bombs, in what appeared to be a routine check as the car was driven over the border from Azerbaijan, the Imedi television station reported.

[Calvin Locke]

Interesting. Myself, I'd use the Pu238 for RTGs, and the Be for mirrorizing a slab of shaped glass for a new telescope.

Alas, no glass worth wasting the Be on, and only a small 1-1/2" peltier floating around in some box.

[RDTF]

wow

[RoadGumby]

That rings true. PuBe sources are used because together, those two can produce neutrons. Often they were used as Start-Up Sources for brand new reactor cores.

The article does not say how much, what isotopes or if they were stored together or not. Lots of missing info here.

[freema]

Ping.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks FARS. I’m sure there’s no Russian involvement. /snark

[PapaBear3625]

Update from a Georgia website:

Georgian Border Police said on Tuesday that it had detected radioactive emissions from scrap metal in a truck on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border on June 15.

Tbilisi-based Imedi TV reported on June 19 that the Georgian Border Police had detected nuclear materials – a mixture of plutonium and beryllium – in a truck coming from Azerbaijan. The truck was sent back to Azerbaijan.

The Border Police, however, stressed in a statement that only very small traces had been detected on the scrap metal during a routine customs check.

“The truck was carrying different types of scrap metal. It was driven by a Georgian citizen. He had all the necessary documents. Radiation emissions were detected on one of the metal pipes in the cargo. Pipes of this kind are usually used for wells,” the Border Police said.

It also said that it had informed relevant agencies within the Interior Ministry and Ministry of Environment, which then studied the case and jointly decided to send the truck with its cargo back to Azerbaijan.

“Our Azerbaijani colleagues have been informed,” the Border Police said.

So it wasn't a shipment of plutonium, but neither was it a legitimate device that happened to contain plutonium. Left unexplained is how well-pipe might have been contaminated with Pu. Perhaps somebody stashed some Pu down a well at some point? The lack of open interest by the authorities is interesting

[DBrow]

Finding a neutron source in a well, or in well equipment, is not too surprising. AmBe is more common, but there are PuBe sources in use today.

Neutron sources are used for “well logging”, by irradiating the surrounding borehole rock or soil with neutrons then using a gamma spectrometer to determine the type of rock by its elemental composition (neutron activation analysis).

The backscatter of neutrons yields information about density and other factors.

The “piece of pipe” was most likely an old well logging device, with a PuBe source in it.

The lack of open interest is most likely due to the fact that well logging is a common technology and using a PuBe source for it is an accepted method. Combine that with a lack of a threat, and you get a ho-hum reaction.

The article does not say that the pipe was a well logging rig, so I’m not sure if there was a PuBe source, or if someone had broken open a PuBe source during a logging operation and there was residual contamination.

Isn’t it nice to know that there are radiation detectors in use at borders and that they trip on even small quantities of radioactive materials? The article could have been written as reassuring instead of alarming merely by shifting to the detectors, how they work, how sensitive they are, their spectral specificity*, and the clever border agents that found the PuBe.

*some early detectors would sound an alarm when scanning a load of bananas, since the K40 in bananas has a gamma peak quite close to that of special nuclear materials. It takes high spectral sensitivity to differentiate between bananas and a nuclear bomb.

[DBrow]

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825225.800

An article talking about bombs and bananas.

[SunkenCiv]

Radiation emissions were detected on one of the metal pipes in the cargo. Pipes of this kind are usually used for wells

...in the gulag, maybe. Thanks PapaBear.

[PsyOp]

Either Laurel and Hardey are in charge of Border Security in Georgia, or they’ve been consulting with President Bush and Tony Snowman.

This reminds me of Snowman’s interview with Hannity earlier this week:

Hannity: “...but Tony, they had plutonium and berylium! Why didn’t you confiscate it!”

Snowman: “Look Sean, I love you, but you just can’t go around confiscating nuclear material at the border. The previous border security law had no such provisions. And anyways, the Border Patrol folks did not have the proper forms. But we got some really cool photos from the Global Hawk we now have patroling that sector.”

[PapaBear3625]

thanks for the explanation

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks for the update and ping.

[potlatch]

Thank you for the ping FARS!