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.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 interestingTbilisi-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.
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.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825225.800
An article talking about bombs and bananas.
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.
Thanks for the update and ping.