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NOVINITE - THE BULGARIAN
NEWS
and
DAILY RECORD, UK
Fears After Atomic
Theft
For the record: 7 December 2002, Saturday. Daily Record DEADLY caesium stolen from an iron-smelting plant in Bulgaria may have been smuggled out and into the hands of terrorists. The Bulgarian Atomic Agency yesterday admitted two cylinders of highly radioactive caesium 137 had been stolen from the Kremikovci smelting plant, just outside the capital Sofia. Last night, physicists at the Bulgarian Academy of Science warned the material could be used by terror groups. The theft, coming just weeks after the alleged sales of weapons to Iraq, could further jeopardise Bulgaria's entry into NATO. NOVINITE - THE BULGARIAN
NEWS
Third Radioactive Device Stolen in
Bulgaria
Politics: 7 December 2002, Saturday. Another radioactive device has been stolen from a workshop at Bobovdol coal-fired thermal power station. The signal has been received at 5 p.m. on November 5. The device that went missing contained Caesium-137 and Americium-241, each in a separate 45-kilogram container. The theft comes a day after two devices, containing radioactive materials, were stolen from Kremikovtsi steel plant near Sofia. The level of radioactivity of the materials is 1,000 times lower in comparison with those in the devices stolen from Kremikovtsi. Experts assured they cannot be lethal, nor can they lead to serious deceases. The devices, installed in measurement equipment in Kremikovtsi, were dismantled and stolen without the protective containers. The two measurement devices that went missing contained Caesium-137. The thieves are being tracked down by a special unit. |