Dear Jaro,
Only Member States receive IAEA's information,
so only a national representative of a Member State can provide official
information.
Look at the following (bellow) article, and
the type of container, and the suspected person in front of the shielding. Can
you imagine if it was 30 kilogram of Cs-137 the situation would
be like this picture? - You know the press 1 + 1 = 10, not
because the intention, however the type of information they
get.
The mass of the source matrix in Goiania was
less than 100 grams and activity of 50.9 TBq (1375 Ci) and the shielding about
600 kilogram
Finally it was published by the press: " Manoon
Aramrattana, deputy secretary-general of the Office of Atomic Energy for Peace
said the intensity of the impounded cesium-137 was measured at 75
millicuries"
Jose Julio
Rozental
Israel
WAR ON TERRORISM
`Dirty bomb' material
seized
Suspect found with radioactive cesium
Wassayos Ngamkham
and Ranjana Wangvipula
Narong Penanam, 44, sits with a metal box
containing radioactive cesium-137 after his arrest yesterday outside the Royal
Pacific hotel on Rama IX road. _ KOSOL NAKACHOL
Thai and US officials
yesterday arrested a suspected illegal arms dealer in Bangkok with 30
kilogrammes of a radioactive material that could be used to make a ``dirty
bomb''.
..................................................................................................
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 5:42 PM
Subject: any more news on Thai Cs-137
seizure ?
If anyone in Radsafe has seen an update of the story, I would
very much appreciate a copy, if possible, please.
In
particular, I would like to know what the quantity of Cs-137 really
was.
Has the IAEA said anything about this yet ? ( Jose ?)
Than you.
Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Laos denies smuggling of radioactive material
BANGKOK, June 18 (Reuters) - Communist Laos said on Wednesday
that a
stash of radioactive caesium-137 seized by Thai
police last week had
not been smuggled through its
territory.
Thai police, tipped off by U.S. customs agents, said on Friday
they
had arrested a Thai national with 30 kg (66 lb)
of caesium-137,
possibly intended for use in militant
attacks in the form of a "dirty bomb."
Thai officials said the suspect had confessed to smuggling the
caesium from neighbouring Laos and more was being kept
there. They
said it was believed to have originated in
Russia.
But Laotian Ambassador to Thailand Hiem Phommachanh told
Reuters
authorities investigated the report and found
nothing.
"This substance is not found in Laos," Hiem
said. "Whenever there is
bad news in Thailand, Laos is
brought in and associated with it."
A "dirty bomb" is made of conventional explosives and salted
with
radioactive isotopes. When it explodes, it
spreads radioactive material over a wide area.
The Thai capital Bangkok is hosting an Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) meeting from October 20-21 to be
attend by world
leaders, including U.S. President
George W. Bush.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Saturday Muslim
militants were planning attacks on embassies in
Thailand to coincide with the summit.
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