Norway Post: Norway and Russia to replace nuclear batteries

Norway and Russia have agreed to replace several hundred nuclear powered lighthouses in the Barents Sea region. Thieves who have attempted to steal the nuclear batteries have created dangerous situations.

the thieves have several times tried to remove the batteries containing the isotope strontium-90, which may be used to make so-called "dirty bombs". If the batteries should fall into the hands of terrorists, the radioactive element therefore could be used to make such devices.

Work is underway to gather international assistance to help Russia replace 700 nuclear batteries in the region. More than 80 experts from 11 nations are gathered in Oslo to discuss the problem.

From: Norway to sponsor replacement of all nuclear lighthouses in north-west Russia

Norway and Russia have agreed to replace over hundred nuclear powered lighthouses in the north-west region during a conference in February.

Last month Norway signed an agreement of intent stipulating Norway will finance replacement of all the radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs, used as power sources for lighthouses and navigation beacons in the north-west Russia.

Rosatom concern promised to replace all the lighthouse nuclear generators in Russia by 2012.

Nonproliferation officials from around the globe are due to gather in Moscow on Friday to discuss continuing efforts to secure energy sources used to power Soviet-built naval structures, including lighthouses, that could be used in a radiological "dirty bomb,"

Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups have long expressed a desire to obtain unconventional weapons such as a radiological dirty weapon, which would use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials.

The generators "contain a substantial amount of radioactive material and the sources are free for access by malicious intruders intending to used the sources ... for construction of dirty bombs," according to Heikki Reponen, head of expert services at Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority.