McMaster rebuts report of nuclear theft attempt [FW]

["Jaro" <jaro-10kbq@sympatico.ca>]

FYI, from the Canadian Nuclear Discussion List.....



 Jaro

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



-----Original Message-----

From: cdn-nucl-l-admin@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA

[mailto:cdn-nucl-l-admin@informer2.cis.McMaster.CA]On Behalf Of Adam McLean

Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 11:11 PM

To: Canadian Nuclear Discussion List

Subject: [cdn-nucl-l] McMaster rebuts report of nuclear theft attempt



Posted in the National Post on October 18, 2003 and at:

http://www.nationalpost.com/national/story.html?id=09D11D0D-69FD-4CD6-A50D-F

727BA892DB0



Adam

-----------------



McMaster rebuts report of nuclear theft attempt

Dirty bomb planned?



Adrian Humphreys and Michael Friscolanti

National Post



An al-Qaeda cell's search for nuclear material is said to have led to

McMaster University's reactor, above.



HAMILTON - Officials in Canada say there is no substance to a U.S. report

that a suspected al-Qaeda operative tried to steal nuclear materials from an

Ontario university to construct a "dirty bomb" for a terrorist attack.



Attributing the information to an FBI informant, The Washington Times

reported yesterday that Adnan El Shukrijumah posed as a student at McMaster

University in Hamilton last year while trying to obtain radioactive

materials from the school's small nuclear reactor.



Mr. El Shukrijumah's name, aliases and photographs were released by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation in March in an alert to U.S. and

international law enforcement agencies. The alert said the 27-year-old man,

born in Saudi Arabia, is believed to have a Canadian passport and be

"possibly involved with al-Qaeda terrorist activities."



The Washington, D.C., newspaper, never naming its source, yesterday painted

a startling scenario of Mr. El Shukrijumah being a ringleader in an al-Qaeda

cell in Canada and the U.S. that was planning to detonate a dirty bomb, a

crude nuclear device designed to spread deadly radiation.



The report says the cell's search for nuclear material took him to McMaster,

which has a low-power research reactor on the western side of its campus.



The report took Canadian law enforcement and university officials by

surprise. "We have no indication that the individual has ever been a

student, nor has he ever been seen around any of our facilities," said Chris

Heysel, director of nuclear operations and facilities at McMaster. "We have

come across no evidence to substantiate any of the information in the media

report and we have every confidence in the security and safety surrounding

the facility," he said.



Dave Tucker, a health physicist who manages radiation safety for the

university, said there is no indication that any nuclear material is

unaccounted for. "There is a very small number of people who have access to

our nuclear facilities and we know who they are and we know that [Mr. El

Shukrijumah] isn't one of them. There are few enough that we know personally

the people who have unescorted access to the reactor," he said.



Nicole Courier, spokeswoman for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service,

said the spy agency is familiar with the FBI's interest in Mr. El

Shukrijumah, but has no reason to believe he was in Canada.



"I don't know where the information is coming from, but, from our

perspective, there is nothing to substantiate it," she said.



The FBI, however, was not as quick to dismiss the report, saying it would

neither confirm nor deny it.



There are seven non-power nuclear reactors on Canadian campuses -- at

McMaster University, Dalhousie University, University of Alberta, University

of Saskatchewan, Royal Military College, and two at École Polytechnique.



ahumphreys@nationalpost.com



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