Russian Uranium Seized in Turkey, Dealers Detained

Two men were arrested by Turkish security forces in Istanbul Turkey for trying to sell 173 grams of medium-grade uranium for $7 million.
Turkish officials say it was smuggled over from Russia.

Mosnews

Turkish Atomic Energy Agency experts, after examining the substance, said it contained 17 per cent of the U-235 isotope. The remaining 83 per cent is mostly the U-238 isotope which does not contribute directly to the fission process.

--snip--

The two men, whose identities are not revealed, were detained by police who acted as would-be buyers of the uranium. A spokesman for the Turkish security services said: “The only place where the uranium could eventually land is in the hands of terrorists,” the Itar-Tass news agency reports.

Hopefully this bust will lead to the arrest of more than just those two people so there won't be any more of this uranium being smuggled out of Russia any time soon.

This material is the perfect mix for making dirty bombs. No doubt it was destined for the terrorists who would be slavering to get their bloody hands on it to add to the stash they, no doubt, already have.

Good thing the turks found it before it went any further.

Great post. I mentioned it hours ago off a post thread of the same news Source during the regard of Crop Circles, and a known science as to how they occur.

Dallas
EDIT: From the Submission of the Crop Circle 'answer' on a post.

[edit on 17-8-2005 by Dallas]

I missed that post but this deserved it's own thread anyway.

What's really interesting is that this was a sting operation.
I wonder if that means they already had reports that uranium was being sold so they tried to arrange a deal with the sellers.

If that is the case, I hope they can track down any previous buyers and recover what was sold.

This is scary, but still looks like miniscule amounts...according to Wikipedia the critical mass of pure U-235 is 50 kg. so just 173 g of 17% pure is nothing...but it could be used for a dirty bomb.

The very fact of an arrest of smuggling this kind of stuff from Russia is beyond that amount and into how's Russia's WMD security doing - I think?

Dallas