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Dumped U-238 found in Russian scrapyard
Edited for brevity.Russian security services seized two containers filled with highly radioactive material at a scrap yard in central Russia, Interfax news agency said on Tuesday. Radiation levels at the scene in the Volga town of Saratov, where the containers with uranium-238 were discovered, were 358 times higher than normal, Interfax said, citing regional emergency officials. Nuclear officials in Moscow could not immediately confirm the report. Depleted uranium, where uranium-238 is usually found, can be theoretically used to make nuclear "dirty bombs." Interfax said homeless people brought the containers to the scrap yard. It quoted regional nuclear experts as saying officials at the scene had also found an empty container normally used to transport uranium. Uranium-238 is a highly dense and toxic material mainly used in gun ammunition and armor. "That type of uranium looks very much like lead so I would not be surprised if someone had simply mistaken it for it and dumped at the scrap yard," a spokesman for the Russian Atomic Energy Agency said. "This lead sure is pretty! Look how it glows!" Posted by: Dar 2004-10-19 |
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