Posted on 11/02/2004 6:43:59 AM PST by Ginifer
A former Russian nuclear scientist has reportedly handed over to police eight containers of weapons-grade plutonium he had stored at home for eight years.
The 400g (14oz) of plutonium-238 - a highly radioactive compound that could be used in a "dirty bomb" - came from a disused laboratory in Siberia.
Former employee Leonid Grigorov says he removed it for safekeeping after the lab was looted, Russian media reports.
He may face criminal proceedings, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency says.
Counter-terrorism experts have repeatedly warned that radioactive material from decrepit Soviet-era installations could fall into the hands of militants.
'Morally right'
Mr Grigorov is quoted as saying he wrote several letters to his former bosses warning them of the risk posed by radioactive material left in the laboratory in Zmeinogorsk, which was abandoned and looted after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
When his letters failed to elicit a response, Mr Grigorov says he was obliged to remove the material himself "to prevent anything bad from happening".
He says he took the plutonium from the garage where he had been storing it to the local police in response to a newspaper advertisement announcing a cash reward for surrendering weapons.
Zmeinogorsk police are quoted as saying Mr Grigorov was morally right to have hidden the hazardous material but he may nonetheless face criminal charges.
Itar-Tass said a legal case had been brought against the physicist for "illegal storage of radioactive substances".
Plutonium-238 can be used with ordinary explosives to make a "dirty bomb", potentially contaminating a large area with radiation.
It's possible this happened.
His name translated means: HOMER SIMPSON........
1991? Wonder why the Islamics haven't got and used any yet?
Finally, a ping for you. :)
Perhaps because Russian scientists have kept it away from them by storing it in their garages.
Pu-238 is not fissile, i.e., it is not "weapons grade" and cannot sustain a chain reaction. You may be thinking of Pu-239 which is what is used in fission weapons.
--Boot Hill
How much for a suitcase nuke in mint condition? - Tom
How much for a suitcase nuke in mint condition? - Tom
In Philadelphia, it's worth fifty bucks.
Thank you, very interesting.
Makes one wonder, how many more there are out there.
Ping
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