Officials say crime ring has uranium

[kristopher]

Officials say crime ring has uranium

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Investigators following up on a nuclear sting in Eastern Europe suspect that a crime syndicate was trying to sell weapons-grade uranium to buyers in North Africa.

Officials in Moldova, a former Soviet republic, told The Associated Press that 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of highly enriched uranium remains in criminal hands and is likely in another country.

...According to Olli Heinonen, a former investigator at the U.N. watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency, a small quantity of uranium oxide enriched to bomb-grade level could have come from Russian civilian nuclear stocks used in research reactors. But if the smugglers indeed have the larger quantity they were offering, it would signal that criminals had gained access to military stocks.

...The offer of plutonium, if legitimate, also was particularly troubling, because less plutonium is needed to make a nuclear bomb. Unlike highly enriched uranium, plutonium can be combined with conventional explosives to make a toxic dirty bomb that could spread radioactivity over a wide area.

The investigation widened ...

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/international/news/20110927p2g00m0in107000c.html

[Ian David]

1. Bush Cuts Threat Reduction Budget

Bush Cuts Threat Reduction Budget

President George W. Bush’s 2008 fiscal year budget request calls for more cuts in programs related to nonproliferation activities in the former Soviet Union, although some individual threat reduction programs would see gains or maintain funding.

Some proposed reductions reflect the winding down or closure of programs, while other cuts may reflect a shift in priorities away from traditional U.S.-Russian programs such as Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) to more regional or international programs.

Department of Defense

Money requested for the CTR program in the Department of Defense budget is down again this year to $348 million. The $24 million reduction for fiscal year 2008 follows a $44 million cut the previous year. The CTR program seeks to better control the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) complex in the former Soviet Union by securing chemical, biological, and nuclear facilities and finding employment for former weapons scientists and technicians.

<snip>

Obama in particular took issue with the cuts, saying that these are “modest, but cuts nevertheless.” He added, “Now, I recognize that budgets are about priorities, but given how important, potentially, interdiction and some of these other programs are, you know, I’d like to see us at least stay constant…not go backwards.”

In response, Rice, while noting that these programs may be in less demand than in past, said, “I don’t think that we want to be complacent, and obviously we’ll keep examining it.” The administration, however, requested a $36 million increase for small arms and light weapons destruction activities globally. This proposed boost would raise future spending to $44.7 million.

More:
http://www.armscontrol.org/print/2347

[sam11111]

2. "All uranium back in the ground" --great goal for a new treaty

Solves so many problems

[madokie]

3. I wonder how long before some of this shows up in the form of a dirty bomb here in the USA

[stuntcat]

4. unimaginable. No one could have predicted..

sry, extra *bitter today, the shark news.

k and r