Over 200 Scources of South African Radioactive Material "Lost"

Over 200 Scources of South African Radioactive Material "Lost"

hisz.rsoe.hu

"More than 200 sources of radioactive material have been lost, and this could be placing the public’s health at risk."

"According to the DA, dirty bombs and international gangs could become a reality in South Africa if the Directorate for Radiation Control did not get its act together."

(visit the link for the full news article)

It may be a long way from home for many on ATS but the proliferation of radioactive waste products is a major concern these days.

From redundant X-Ray machines to higher level nuclear waste, radiological material is relatively easy for criminals and terrorists to source these days. The technology required to make a radiological weapon (dirty bomb) is hardly rocket science and whilst many governments now have relatively advanced technology capable of tracking radioactive materials, it only takes one device to sneak in "below the radar".

At one time it was the threat of old Soviet era nuclear weapons going missing and whilst that threat has not subsided, this modern threat is a serious challenge for intelligence agencies around the globe.

Doc

hisz.rsoe.hu
(visit the link for the full news article)

Well to watch over the activity of Gangs and stolen Radioactive Material is www.globalincidentmap.com... a better source as RSOE EDIS. Only a Idea from me..

Yes, we had plenty of "nuclear" devices, including medical etc. And no, we don't have any effective oversight anymore. Nuclear weapons went to north korea, who knows what else went where?

We also have mine dumps in JHB. The mine dumps are currently being sifted for the uranium, which wasn't extracted with the gold, decades ago. The groundwater has become contaminated with among othert things, radio active material. In one of the biggest cities in africa.

www.mg.co.za...

The whole series is scary reading, but also touches on nuclear contamination.

reply to post by thewarehouse


Thanks for the additional link. I am now awaiting a response to my membership request. Are you a paid member of that site or just use the map without the additional benefits of paid membership? If yes, is the quality of information worth paying for?

Regards

Doc

reply to post by ExtinctExInt


The Map is not the Environment, if someone try to poisen you with Polonium it would not help to pay more..
.. otherwise you have more Detailed Information like in RSOE EDIS.

I am hardly suprised by this. The only thing I found odd about the report was that the situation could lead to the creation of "Dirty bombs, and international gangs." Well ok the dirty bombs would be new, but there are already some pretty hefty criminal organisations running either out of, or having connections in South Africa. To suggest that if there are people distributing the materials required to build a dirty bomb, that they arent affiliated with the current criminal topography of the area is quite utterly idiotic.
Let us lay this on the line. If there are such persons, they are already known to the authorities of at least four nations, and more likely the South African govermnment itself. They probably have long histories of violence, drug running, gun running, murder, terrorism, torture extortion, and god knows what the hell else. Put another way, no gang STARTS with a dirty bomb, or any material which could be used to build one. A well established outfit with enough money and man power to protect such a valuable asset however, now those would be the ones to watch. They would be the ones with the connections to see a good price recieved for the goods, and they would be the ones with the clout to ensure that terror groups and others dont try to muscle them out of the supply chain. Small , fresh groups wouldnt have the fortitude to keep something like that buttoned down, and ensure continued revenue in the future, and wouldnt have the man power to protect the supply , or any product of it.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Its very blue eyed, if somebody think´s criminals are uneducated Gangsters like the guys in the 30´s. That´s wrong because Chaos don´t ask for help, to go to the Toilet! I think the Radioactive Material was Stolen to place a Dirty Bomb in Freetown, Sierra Leone. I mean that would I do if I were a Gangster or a Terrorist, there are a lot people who want the control over the Conflict Daimonds. Also its the only possible way to take power over Sierra Leone and to infiltrate or sabotage the Kimberly Certification System. Since the Kimberly Certification has a lot Terrorist and Criminals a Big Problem to get a fast Money Laundry , to buy weapons and ammunition. Especially Terror Organization seek for a fast take over.

In related news. This from British newspaper The Independent 8th Nov 2010

Nuclear smuggling exposed in secret trial

Nuclear weapons-grade uranium is now available on the black market in Georgia, according to officials who broke up a smuggling ring in the former Soviet republic.

Highly enriched uranium was smuggled from Armenia to Georgia in a lead-lined cigarette packet in March. Two men involved in transporting the substance were arrested in April.

In a closed hearing, Sumbat Tonayan, a former dairy factory owner and Hrant Ohanian, a retired nuclear physicist from a science institute in Armenia, pleaded guilty to smuggling the 90 per cent-enriched uranium from the Armenian capital Yerevan to Tbilisi. They face 10 years in jail. It remains unclear whether the 18g of uranium contained in the cigarette packet was a sample of a larger shipment, which has yet to be located.

It is apparent that intelligence agencies are proving to be successful at present in keeping a lid on events like this but you can't help wondering just how long it will be before an established network uses a large CBRN weapon in a populated area.

Doc

Im from south africa and prefer the DA over all, but even i know they over-exaggerate on things. The ANC rules here and the DA are the opposition. They take shots at the ANC daily for anything and everything.

Originally posted by ExtinctExInt
It may be a long way from home for many on ATS but the proliferation of radioactive waste products is a major concern these days.

From redundant X-Ray machines to higher level nuclear waste, radiological material is relatively easy for criminals and terrorists to source these days. The technology required to make a radiological weapon (dirty bomb) is hardly rocket science and whilst many governments now have relatively advanced technology capable of tracking radioactive materials, it only takes one device to sneak in "below the radar".

Well, first thing, x-ray machines are not a persistent source of radiation. You can't grind up something from an x-ray machine and use it in a dirty bomb, for instance. The x-rays produced by an x-ray machine are made by bombarding a metallic target, usually tungsten, with an electron beam. When the beam's off, there's no radiation at all.

As far as medical sources go, the ones that are of any use are the cobalt-60 or cesium-137 sources from radiation treatment machines. There are often lesser sources used in nuc med, like radioactive iodine, but they either aren't active enough or are only around in too small of an amount to be useful.

You might also find useful sources if you could somehow get access to the storage pools of active nuclear reactors and made off with some old fuel rods. New rods won't have much activity, a fresh old rod would be really dangerous.

There are some gamma sources that are "in the open" so to speak that are typically not well guarded and would yield enough material to make a dirty weapon, if you didn't mind giving your all to Allah in handling it. I won't say where.

That's the basic issue with any really effective dirty weapon though - you'll pretty much die handling the stuff, and it's going to be so active it'll be easy to detect and tough to shield.

You'd be better off with some plutonium chips and a railroad flare.

According to the report, 200 pieces of cesium-137 were stolen. Interestingly "A dirty bomb containing cesium 137 is detonated in a moderate to large city" is from a FEMA/National Guard training scenario and we know how that goes.

Originally posted by Bedlam

Well, first thing, x-ray machines are not a persistent source of radiation. You can't grind up something from an x-ray machine and use it in a dirty bomb, for instance. The x-rays produced by an x-ray machine are made by bombarding a metallic target, usually tungsten, with an electron beam. When the beam's off, there's no radiation at all.

I agree your point on modern X-Ray machines. There are products however from old fashioned X-Ray and fluoroscope equipment that are still very dangerous. One case involved old equipment causing fatal injuries amongst children who found a discarded machine and painted themselves with the waste that had been left in it when it was abandoned in the former soviet union. I am currently trying to source a link to this but studied it a few years back as a case study for work purposes.

The ideal dirty weapon doesn't however need "quality" or weapons grade fissile material. Any old dirty radioactive source will do and as you say the assembler/handler will probably die shortly afterwards if he chooses not to martyr himself during the "deployment". Even with weapons grade material it has long been said that the smart terrorist would do far more lasting harm by simply powdering the material and dispersing it from a high building into the wind, such is the difficulty cleaning up plutonium and the fact that the smallest granule is incredibly toxic. Along with the huge psychological implications of a radiological attack and the "loss" of a populated area to contamination for an indefinite period an attack of this nature is "true" terror.

Respectfully

Doc

Originally posted by ExtinctExIntOne case involved old equipment causing fatal injuries amongst children who found a discarded machine and painted themselves with the waste that had been left in it when it was abandoned in the former soviet union.

You're not going to find it's an x-ray or fluoroscope machine. Neither has waste of that sort. Maybe they found some old radium paint or the like.

The ideal dirty weapon doesn't however need "quality" or weapons grade fissile material.

Actually, you don't want 'quality' or weapons grade fissile material - that stuff isn't very hot. You can handle weapons grade material barehanded without any problems. It's the crappy old stuff with daughter products in it that is the issue, thus my comment on fresh old fuel rods. A spent fuel rod that's only a week or two out of the reactor is a fearsome thing.

Any old dirty radioactive source will do and as you say the assembler/handler will probably die shortly afterwards...

For a dirty bomb, the crappier the better, and as a practical note that's usually a high level gamma source. Cobalt, cesium, or ground up old fuel rods are the most cost effective, there are some other sources that are spectacularly bad contaminants but it requires some hard work with a research reactor to produce them - not likely for a terrorist to have.

... it has long been said that the smart terrorist would do far more lasting harm by simply powdering the material and dispersing it from a high building into the wind...

Thus my comment about some plutonium chips and a railroad flare. For plutonium, the goodie is not in its radioactivity - it's not that radioactive - but in its prompt chemical toxicity combined with the thought that you might get away from the massive pulmonary fibrosis only to die of an alpha-induced tumor 20 years down the road.

Plutonium is pyrophoric if shaved, and flammable in chips. You get a lot better bang for your buck waiting for a temperature inversion and lighting some chips on fire on top of a moderately high building. The resulting plutonium oxide smoke cloud is incredibly toxic chemically.

That said, there are some chemical aerosols that anyone with the right frame of mind can make that are about as bad, and far far easier to get the materials for. Not even nerve agents, just aerosol chemical poisons. I've never heard the better ones bandied about in public outside of 'killing people and screwing up their infrastructure' class so I'm not going to discuss it here, just understand that if someone were really after causing mass chaos/hysteria/dogs and cats living together it could be done for a few thousand bucks and a couple of weeks setup time, or a lucky find at the right sort of chemical plant, although the more spectacularly deterrent ones do best inside an enclosed environment like an indoor stadium or subway.

And yesterday the Mail and Guardian posted a story on exactly this subject.

www.mg.co.za...

"There's a rumour among smugglers that the main black market for radioactive materials is Turkey. The Armenians were looking for Muslim buyers," said Archil Pavlenishvili, head of the Georgian government's radioactive materials investigations team, who masterminded the sting operation.

Nothing really conclusive or groundbreaking, just a good background.

reply to post by Bedlam


I stand corrected on the X-Ray equipment matter. I worked in healthcare for many years but do not profess to have specialist knowledge of Nuclear Medicine. I am always keen to learn something though and I have here, thank you

Maybe the equipment I remember reading about where the kids got contaminated was abandoned along with X-Ray equipment or the article was simply as misinformed as I was. It was some years ago now and too many bangs on the head along with that nasty alcohol stuff doesn't help the memory

Thanks for your insight.

Respectfully

Doc

And more mentions in the media?

www.health24.com...

South Africa has transformed apartheid-era nuclear weapons into a tool for detecting cancer and heart disease, with a new technology that could ease global worries about nuclear arms trafficking.
After voluntarily dismantling its weapons programme, the leftover nuclear fuel was used to produce medical isotopes used by doctors for imaging technology.
South Africa is one of the world's top three producers of molybdenum-99, better known as moly, used in 80% of the 50 million nuclear medical procedures performed globally each year.
Normally, moly is created with the same type of uranium as used to make nuclear arms, creating a headache for efforts to corral weapons-grade uranium.

All quite factual, but in one week several nuclear stories? That's odd. Enjoying the thread btw