Kerry on Yucca mountain and 'Red Mercury'

[LancerGT@AOL.COM]

In addition to Yucca Mountain not being fit for use by John Kerry making 

news; it seems that  some 'Red Mercury WMD' tales are making the rounds on AOL 

news. So in this media-driven, kooky world - I'm not taking a position on the 

presidential race until ALL candidates state clearly what their position on the 

'Red Mercury' threat is, and whether we can safely store it in Y.M.. I'll bet 

that uncoached, the Swedish EMF/UFO-cat lady has almost as grounded an answer - 

which is a problem.



05/17: AOL News: Ukraine Says It Seized 'Red Mercury' 



Best Regards,

David Lawrence

Eberline Services

Montclair NJ



KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukrainian security officers have arrested two Middle 

Eastern men whom they said possessed a substance that has been touted by sellers 

as an ingredient in nuclear weapons and dismissed by others as a hoax.



Security agents in the southern city of Odessa seized 24 pounds of a 

substance they said was radioactive and identified as ``red mercury,'' a State 

Security Service spokesman said Monday on condition of anonymity. He said they 

arrested two men from a Middle Eastern country,



``Foreign citizens were looking for an opportunity to purchase a quantity of 

radioactive material in Ukraine and to sell it in the Middle East,'' said the 

spokesman, who would not say what country the men were from or where the 

material came from. He said the arrests were made several weeks ago.



Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, black marketeers have been 

peddling substances they call red mercury, apparently passing it off to buyers 

as a highly radioactive compound that purportedly was developed in Soviet 

nuclear facilities and could be used in powerful weapons.



Samples that have turned up in Europe have proved to be bogus, however, and 

many scientists and law enforcement officials say the substance does not exist 

or is far less potentially dangerous than it has been made out to be.



Still, the Ukrainian statement appeared likely to add to concerns that 

terrorists have been seeking to acquire radioactive substances in the former Soviet 

Union.



Western governments and the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic 

Energy Agency, have repeatedly warned that several former Soviet republics 

including Ukraine have become a marketplace for radioactive materials.



This month, Ukrainian authorities arrested several people they said were 

involved in an attempt to purchase cesium-137, a highly radioactive material seen 

as a likely ingredient in a ``dirty bomb.'' Earlier this year, they arrested a 

man trying to take one pound of uranium into neighboring Hungary.    







05/17/04 13:06 EDT