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Nuclear shipyard director held for uranium hoard

Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
The Guardian

A deputy director of a company that operates and repairs Russia's
nuclear-powered icebreakers has been arrested for hoarding in his garage

2kg of highly radioactive material.

Alexander Tyuliakov, 50, was seized as he tried to sell undercover
investigators a suitcase containing the material, which is thought to
include a small amount of uranium 235, capable of being used to make a
"dirty" bomb.

It was unclear yesterday whether he had got it from his employer,
Atomflot, which refuels the Arctic icebreakers at its Murmansk shipyard,

or from his contacts in the nuclear industry.

The undercover officers made contact with him after the secret service
had word that he was trying to sell the material. He was arrested early
last month when he met them to complete the deal. The operation was
filmed by the internal security agency, the FSB.

The investigators have not commented on the quality of the radioactive
material, which is still being examined.

Andrei Petrukhin, head of the Murmansk police investigating unit, said:
"The only thing I can say is that this stuff contains uranium 235,
uranium 238, radium, and also products of their decomposition." The
substances were present in quantities several times greater than the
minimum safety level, he added.

The fact that the radioactive materials were found along with their
waste products suggests that the box contained spent fuel.

It is extremely difficult to refine spent fuel to a state in which it
can be be used in a nuclear weapon, but it could used in a "dirty bomb"
- where conventional explosives are used to spread radioactive material
around a wide area.
In recent months the US, Russia and other states of the G8 richest
industrial countrires have significantly stepped up their efforts to
prevent such material getting into the hands of terrorists. The US has
spentŁ12m on joint projects with the Kremlin to keep material similar
to that found in Murmansk secure.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003