ACG-CIS 2009-12-31 Kazakhstan's Nuclear Breaches

Nuclear Breaches and the Business of Protection

Intelligence Background News

• ACG-CIS, with additional information supplied by Global Incident Map http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php  and Radio Free Europe

Fuel pellets produced at the Ulba Metallurgical Works in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit ITAR-TASS

Security at Kazakhstan’s nuclear facilities has improved in recent years, but the early years following its independence were marked by a series of smuggling incidents and mishaps. Below is a partial timeline of security breaches involving nuclear facilities in Kazakhstan.
 

2009-12-31 - ACG-CIS - Vancouver BC
 

ACG-CIS - 2009-12-31; A recent conversation with one of the shareholders of the ACG Security Group Corp. focused on the newly announced v-RAID radiation detection technology and the potential of the sales market for the new devices. 

The concern that was expressed was regarding sales projections, revenues, the growth of business value and potential for ROI (return on investment). Is there enough opportunity for marketing this type of technology given the various other dangers and threats that are present? The answer is 'yes', especially in light of what the v-RAID technology can provide.

The discussion went from the economics of radiation detection to the socio-economic-political arena outlining both the very real threats that western governments perceive and proliferation of raw radioactive material available.

Government agencies, military organizations, first responders, medical personnel, corporate and private security persons and general public persons have a very real desire for protection. This protection may reflect their occupation, operation or their family situations, but that need for peace of mind protection is there.

Coupling that need for protection is the understanding that there are forces existing today that have a strong desire to disrupt society's peace of mind, to commit criminal acts of terror, some of those acts being under the guise of jihad, some for monetary gain and power. 

It is common knowledge that there have been cases where radioactive products have gone missing. Raw material, medical isotopes, energy and weapons grade material has gone awry. In some instances it has been due to the collapse of a country or its corporate infrastructure, other cases have been through theft and still there has been those that supply products to shadowy people from legitimate stockpiles. As long as there are those people that deal in illegal arms, those countries that circumvent international treaties and those groups that are willing to sacrifice innocent lives for financial gain, there will be danger.

The enemies of a civilized society are willing to stop at nothing to ensure that they gain what it is that they are seeking. The cost in money and innocent lives is "collateral damage" - an acceptable cost of their business of gain (whether monetary, power or religious).

But how prolific is this danger of radioactive material? What can be done with radioactive product? The answer is as varied as the criminal mind. Nuclear product can be packed with explosive charges and once delivered by vehicle to a populated area, can be detonated thus scattering contamination over a significant area. Besides the damaging of soil, air and ground water over a long term, the fear and terror would paralyze the populace and disrupt daily life on a scale as large or greater than that seen on September 11, 2001. Other methods include the poisoning of water sources, food supply chains and the very air that we breathe. Perceived enemies could be poisoned as happened in Britain a few years ago to a Russian spy meeting in a London restaurant.

The fact of the matter is that there is a great deal of this type of material that has gone "missing" and can be presumed to be in the hands of arms dealers, rogue governments and others.

As an example, Kazakhstan has the world's second largest reserves of uranium, trailing Australia. But just ahead of the state supported company, Kazatomprom, and their announcement that it will produce some 13,900 tons of uranium by year-end, making it the world's leading producer, news broke late on December 29 that rogue elements within the state nuclear company were working out an illegal deal to supply Iran with a large amount of purified uranium ore, commonly known as "yellowcake."

Here is a timeline of security breaches that have occurred in Kazakhstan's nuclear facilities since 1992 - 2004. Remember, this is only one country and that there are other countries and companies that can potentially supply the criminal elements with the radioactive material they desire.

• September 24, 1992 -- Russian media report that Kazakh authorities have been unable to find a container of radioactive cesium-137 stolen from the Guriyev Oil refinery several days earlier.
• October 20, 1992 -- Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry recovers the containers of cesium-137 stolen from the Gurev Oil refinery. No one was caught.
• December 4, 1995 -- ITAR-TASS reports that radioactive waste is a major problem in Kazakhstan, which has produced 219 million tons since achieving independence in 1991.
• April 4, 1996 -- BBC cites "Karavan Blitz" reports on thefts from the Ulba Metallurgical Works, saying that about 100 kilograms of uranium 235 were stolen in November, and another 150 kilograms of uranium and 400 kilograms of radioactive thorium were stolen in December.
• May 7, 1996 -- "Obshchaya Gazeta" reports that two men were caught stealing more than 100 kilograms of uranium-235 from the Ulba plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The report states that authorities found 4 kilograms of uranium, one kilogram of thorium, and 10 kilograms of indium in a car leaving Ust-Kamenogorsk.
• May 23, 1996 -- ITAR-TASS reports that Kazakhstan has denied selling radioactive material to China after a complaint was lodged when ferrous and non-ferrous material inspected at the Xinjiang border shows radioactivity. Kazakhstan said the material came from the Karaganda plant.
• July 7, 1997 -- Thieves steal containers of beryllium dioxide, used in synthesizing the rare earth metal beryllium. They dump the contents, then sell the containers at a market in Ust-Kamenogorsk. ITAR-TASS reports that more than 100 kilograms of uranium fuel for nuclear power plants, thorium, indium, and thallium had been stolen from same facility.
• June 6, 1998 -- Interfax reports that a Kazakh plane has been impounded in Ukraine after authorities found 40 tons of "unidentified" radioactive material aboard.
• September 7, 1998 -- Turkish police catch eight men, three of them from Kazakhstan, trying to sell 4.5 kilograms of unprocessed uranium and six grams of plutonium, of unknown origin but said to be from a CIS country.
• June 24, 1999 -- The Atyrau oil refinery reports the theft of a container of cesium and cobalt.
• July 1, 1999 -- The lost container of cesium and cobalt is found. The Kauser company had bought it from an unknown seller.
• June 30, 1999 -- ITAR-TASS reports that containers with two tons of radioactive material have been found on the outskirts of Almaty at the Kausat wine-making plant. The containers disappeared two months earlier from the Kazakh Institute of Atomic Energy.
• August 1, 1999 -- A radioactive container is found at a mobile laboratory belonging to the Munai Ltd. Joint Stock Company.
• September 1, 1999 -- Two containers with radioactive and chemical waste are found at a chemical waste dump outside Almaty.
• February 1, 2000 -- Interfax reports that three men have been detained in Almaty for trying to sell uranium.
• April 2, 2000 -- Uzbek border guards halt a truck coming from Kazakhstan with 10 containers of radioactive substances. The border guards say the truck was headed for Turkmenistan and Iran, then Quetta, Pakistan, where the firm Ahmad Khan Haji Muhhamad was to receive it. The truck was stopped on March 30 and held for two days before the announcement was made.
• April 7, 2000 -- Kazakhstan rejects charges it was trying to ship radioactive material to Pakistan via Uzbekistan.
• April 9, 2000 -- The Pakistani government denies any involvement with the radioactive containers seized on the Uzbek-Kazakh border in early March.
• June 13, 2000 -- Interfax reports that a container labeled "Radioactive Cargo" was found on a playing field in the center of Almaty. Experts say the radiation levels around the container were within acceptable limits.
• July 5, 2000 -- ITAR-TASS reports that police have caught a Russian national on board an Astana-St. Petersburg train carrying 90 kilograms of radioactive mercury.
• July 7, 2000 -- ITAR-TASS reports that Kazakh KNB officers have seized 4 kilograms of tablets containing uranium from a group of criminals who were planning on smuggling them to Afghanistan. The press service of the Almaty police says the group is led by an ethnic Uzbek.
• February 19, 2002 -- RFE/RL reports that a train loaded with radioactive material has returned to eastern Kazakhstan from the Chinese border.
• March 11, 2002 -- Interfax reports that Kazakh secret services have uncovered an attempt to sell radioactive material from Uzbekistan. Two Uzbek citizens were detained in the Makhtaaral district in South Kazakhstan trying to sell 1.5 kilograms of radioactive material, said to be uranium oxide powder.
• March 27, 2002 -- ITAR-TASS reports that four containers of radioactive material were found at the gates of the "Energetik-3" parking area in Ust-Kamensk.
• April 15, 2002 -- John Schlosser, an official at the U.S. State Department's Non-Proliferation Bureau, tells an international conference on terrorism and non-proliferation in Tashkent that the United States will provide $30 million to Central Asian states in 2002 to fight trafficking in weapons of mass destruction and another $20 million to Uzbekistan to strengthen export controls. Schlosser says eight attempts to smuggle radioactive material across Central Asian borders have been stopped in the past year.
• October 8, 2002 -- ITAR-TASS reports that Russian border guards have stopped a Kazakhstan-bound train and found tons of enriched uranium on board.
• October 14, 2002 -- Twelve railroad cars carrying radioactive material arrive at the Druzhba-Alashankow checkpoint along the Kazakh-Chinese border.
• November 7, 2002 -- South Korean daily newspaper “Seoul Segye Ilbo” reports that North Korea has bought uranium from Kazakhstan's Ulba Plant, and claims that Uyghur separatist transported the uranium to North Korea.
• September 23, 2003 -- "Ekspress-K" reports that resident of Uralsk, Kazakhstan have been caught with container of uranium.
• February 20, 2004 -- AP reports that Kazakhstan has opened an investigation into a Dubai-based company's office in Almaty and allegations that the company was involved in the nuclear black market.
• November 20, 2004 -- Interfax reports that a radioactive source has been found at a vegetable storage facility in Saryagash in southern Kazakhstan.
  
   

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