Ukraine Secret Service Seizes Uranium at Airport (Reuters)

[cthrumatrix]

Ukraine Secret Service Seizes Uranium at Airport

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's SBU security service arrested a man at Kiev's airport who had a case containing radioactive uranium-238 in his car, the Emergencies Ministry said Tuesday.



It said the man was detained at Boryspil airport, Ukraine's main international gateway, with 582 grams of uranium. It did not say when the arrest took place or whether he had been attempting to leave the country.


"SBU officers detained the person who was moving a case with a radioactive substance -- Uranium-238 -- in his car," the ministry said in a statement. It said ministry specialists had seized the case.

snip

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&nci...

[shadowknows69]

1. truth or propaganda

I can't even tell anymore. Anyone else losing their mind? Who wants to bet that the U238 was headed for Iran or Syria.

[shadowknows69]

2. link is down now wtf n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. Maybe this link to the Reuter's story will do the job.....

~~~~ link ~~~~

[shadowknows69]

4. you would think

this would be major breaking news. oh I forgot. The Jackson circus is in town.

[0007]

5. Thanks Judi Lynn for the additional information!

" A ministry official said an investigation had been launched. SBU officials were not immediately available for comment.

Depleted uranium, where uranium-238 is normally found, can theoretically be used to make nuclear "dirty bombs," but it is often used in gun ammunition and armor because of its high density.

Ukraine gave up its share of the Soviet nuclear arsenal after independence in 1991 but remains home to some of Europe's largest nuclear power stations. The country is trying to strengthen security and border controls as it now borders three member states of the enlarged European Union.

Eastern Europe's vast pool of nuclear technology is of major concern to the United States and the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, as it remains open to theft and black market trade."

[leveymg]

6. Useful primer on differences between enriched and depleted uranium

Very unlikely anyone would try to make an A-bomb (or even a "dirty bomb") out of depleted uranium. The highly fissionable material -- U-235 (plutonium) -- is taken out of depleted uranium, rendering it virtually unusable as basis for a nuclear chain reaction.

If that guy was carrying half a kilo of depleted uranium, he was likely set up in some kind of sting operation.

From Wikepedia - http://www.answers.com/topic/enriched-uranium

Enriched uranium
Enriched uranium is uranium whose uranium-235 content has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Natural uranium consists mostly of the U-238 isotope, with about 0.7 percent by weight as U-235 which is the only isotope existing in nature to any appreciable extent that is fissionable by thermal neutrons.

Highly enriched uranium (HEU) has a greater than 20% concentration of U-235.

The fissile uranium in nuclear weapons usually contains 85% or more of U-235 (weapons-grade or weapon-grade), though for a crude inefficient weapon 20% is sufficient (this is called weapons-usable or weapon-usable; some argue that even less is sufficient, but that then the critical mass rapidly increases). The presence of too much of the U-238 isotope inhibits the runaway nuclear chain reaction that is responsible for the weapon's power.

HEU is also used in nuclear submarine reactors, where it contains at least 50% U-235, but typically exceeds 90%.

Low-enriched uranium (LEU) has a lower than 20% concentration of U-235.

For use in commercial nuclear reactors natural uranium is enriched to 3 to 5 percent U-235.

During the Manhattan Project enriched uranium was given the codename oralloy, a shortened version of Oak Ridge alloy, after the plant where the uranium was enriched. The term oralloy is still occasionally used to refer to enriched uranium. The remaining U-238 with extremely low U-235 content is known as depleted uranium, and is considerably less radioactive than even natural uranium, though still extremely dense and is useful for armor and armor penetrating weapons.

The ability to enrich uranium is one of the key factors in nuclear weapons proliferation.