Missing: Soviet radioactive dust

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

As I recall from posts in past to RadSafe, germination rates can be

increased by irradiating seeds.  Perhaps this was the intent behind the

"bizarre series of agricultural experiments" described below.



--Susan Gawarecki



Missing: Soviet radioactive dust

By Gareth Cook, Globe Staff, 6/21/2002

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/172/nation/Missing_Soviet_radioactive_dust+.shtml



Specialists tracking the world's radioactive material revealed a new

concern yesterday: a highly radioactive powder, used by the Soviets,

whose location is currently unknown. 



The Soviet Union used the substance in a bizarre series of agricultural

experiments, the specialists said, a disclosure that raises concerns

that terrorists could acquire the powder and use it to fashion

radioactive ''dirty bombs.''



Although details about the program remain murky, a spokeswoman for the

International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna said yesterday that it had

received reports of the program from ''reliable sources'' in Russia, as

well as photos of trucks used to move the powder around. The agency is

alarmed because the powder is highly radioactive, easily dispersed, and

unaccounted for.



''It is the post 9/11 era, and we don't want this stuff to get in the

wrong hands,'' said Melissa Fleming, the IAEA spokeswoman.



Fleming said that the United States and Russia will announce Tuesday a

joint two-year program to locate and secure radiation sources that

authorities lost track of when the Soviet Union fell apart, and that

finding the powder will be one of their priorities. The joint program,

which will be managed by the IAEA, will receive about $40 million,

according to an article in today's issue of the journal Science, which

also reported the existence of the agricultural program.



An advance copy of the Science article was provided to journalists

yesterday.



The material used by the Soviets was a form of cesium-137 called cesium

chloride, Fleming said. According to IAEA's sources, the radioactive

powder was placed in the back of a truck, with heavy lead shielding to

protect the driver, and driven over fields, to expose planted seeds to

radiation.



The precise purpose of the experiments is unclear, as is their timing,

Fleming said. Exposure to radiation would cause random genetic changes

in the seeds.



The experiments were abandoned, Fleming said, but it is not known what

was done with the radioactive material. Such material becomes less

powerful over time, but cesium-137 decays slowly, losing half of its

potency about every 30 years.



The security of radioactive material has been an increasing concern,

especially since the US government announced earlier this month that it

had disrupted a plot to explode a radioactive bomb in the United States.

-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

We've moved!  Please note our new address:

102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

.....................................................

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