Dirty bomb material found at tip

Some homeless people in Russia tried to sell 2 containers full of highly radioactive uranium-238 to a local scrap dealer. The containers have now been secured by russian security forces. This is not a unique event. Several containers was also found last week on a train not far from Chechnya.

www.news.com.au
RUSSIAN security forces have seized two containers full of highly radioactive uranium-238 after a group of homeless people tried to sell them to a scrap dealer.

The containers were found at a waste dump in the central Russian town of Saratov, which lies on the River Volga.

Radiation levels at the dump were 358 times higher than normal, officials said.

Depleted uranium, where uranium-238 is usually found, can be used to make nuclear "dirty bombs". The find will renew fears that radioactive material at dozens of poorly-guarded sites around Russia might fall into the hands of terrorists.

"This is obviously a worry," said a Western diplomat. "There is a huge amount of nuclear material just lying around in Russia. Not only is it a threat to local people, but it is potentially a threat to the world at large."

Meanwhile, a truck carrying radioactive materials was seized on Tuesday at the far eastern port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the Ria-Novosti news agency reported.

And several lead containers holding uranium, plutonium and strontium were last week found on a train on its way from Moscow to the southern town of Mineralniye Vody, not far from Chechnya.

OMG, it�s worse than I thought...
Apparently it is very easy to buy materials for making dirty bombs. At least in Russia it is...
And Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the east-coast would be an obvious harbour to use if it was to be shipped to US.

I recall reading that during the breakup of the Soviet Union, a lot of things went "missing" or were done improperly. My memory's vague on this, but I seem to recall concerns at that time about nuclear material.

It sounds like the techs just dumped the waste fuel in landfills rather than trying to dispose of it properly.

This isn't new news. The state of Russia and its stored nuclear weapons and nuclear material has been in a terrible state for god knows how many years. Russia has also already been known to have sold nuclear materials to terrorists and other rogue groups on the black market. There has also been little done by the Russian government and the UN to address this issue. If the US and other countries really wanted to do something to improve this "war on terror," securing Russia's sites should be near the top of the list. But I suppose the nonexistent threat of Iraq was just more important.

God I was reading ten fifteen years ago in my daily paper about the scrap Russian fleet of nuclear and conventional submarines. They didnt have the money to make them safe and break them up so they parked them in backwaters and forgot them. Hell, there were picks of several sunk at thier moorings.

I understand from the Australian Naval Leagues journal, "The Navy" that Germany is footing a bill to clean them up and scrap the nuclear boats safely. $300 million Australian from memory.

Its no surprise that a junk dealer got his hands on hazzardous materials. These people are trying to survive in a gutted system. I've read that locals even hunt in the Chernyobl no go zone despite the multiplied health and birth risks because the areas teaming with deer and other game - and they eat it.

Oh no!!! not another report of the sale of RED MERCURY!!!

Let's get a couple things straight:

1) If it was DU, then almost all of the U235 has been removed. This is more stable and less radioactive than Uranium Ore that comes out of the ground!
2) If it was DU, use in a dirty bomb would mainly cause harm because of the toxic effects of the heavy metal. You would have to grind it up into a powder for good dispersion. In a bomb, DU would be more likely to be used in the outer shell of a thermonuclear warhead, not the fissile material itself.
3) If it wasn't DU, they would have to haul several dump trucks worth to make anything that would make an earth shattering KABOOM!
4) Didn't they say they were caught? That sounds like a step in the right direction to me...

Nukes don't scare me. Radical countries/groups that would use them for religious purposes (Iran) do!

Yeah, I know that USA is the only country to have ever dropped a nuke in anger. But they were tiny ones, and besides we gave the world basketball...and McDonalds. So don't panic, have another McNugget and relax...

Yesterday the BBC carried an article with a headline about about a couple hundred rhinos in Uganda killed by Ricin. I went to read something else, when I went back looking for the article it was removed and I have not been able to find it.

Ricin in Uganda? If that is so, then it is far easier to acquire these materials not we are led to believe.

Originally posted by SomewhereinBetween
Yesterday the BBC carried an article with a headline about about a couple hundred rhinos in Uganda killed by Ricin. I went to read something else, when I went back looking for the article it was removed and I have not been able to find it.

Ricin in Uganda? If that is so, then it is far easier to acquire these materials not we are led to believe.

It was hippos, but there were other dead animals too. I got a thread about it.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Started that thread on the 8/9, but back then they didn�t know the cause.
German scientists have now found out it was anthrax...