Slovak uranium arrests reveal shadowy market

Expert: 'Dirty bomb' talk is off topic
Alexander Glaser, a researcher at Princeton University’s Program in Science and Global Security, said any discussion of dirty bombs in this case was “off topic.”

“Even naturally occurring uranium would be more effective than this in making a dirty bomb,” he said.

Investigators were still working to determine who ultimately was trying to buy the uranium, which the three men allegedly were selling for $1 million.

Experts say roughly 55 pounds of highly enriched uranium or plutonium is needed in most instances to fashion a crude nuclear device. But they say a fraction of that is enough for a dirty bomb — a weapon whose main purpose would be to create fear and chaos, not cause human casualties.

Vitaly Fedchenko, a researcher with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said people should not get the idea that the world is awash in easily obtainable bomb components.

“The danger is definitely there. But there’s no reason to panic,” he said. “Most of the ‘buyers’ out there are law enforcement agents. And not all of the materials out there are weapons grade.”

In 2003, police in the Czech Republic, which borders Slovakia, arrested two Slovaks in a sting operation in the city of Brno after they allegedly sold undercover officers natural depleted uranium for $715,000.

Russia prime nation of concern
Concerns about nuclear smuggling have generally been focused on Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union, where security at nuclear-related industries deteriorated after the 1991 Soviet collapse.

The U.S.-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, an organization dedicated to reducing the global threat from nuclear weapons, said in a report last year that Russia remains the prime country of concern for contraband nuclear material.

In 2006, Georgian agents working with CIA officials set up a sting that led to the arrest of a Russian citizen who tried to sell a small amount of weapons-grade uranium that he had in a plastic bag in his jacket pocket.

In 1997, seven men who officials said planned to smuggle 11 pounds of enriched uranium to Pakistan or China were arrested in Novosibirsk, Russia. That uranium reportedly had been stolen from a plant in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

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