Exclusive: Radioactive Material Stolen In Iraq Raises Security Fears

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

Iraq is searching for "highly dangerous" radioactive material stolen last year, according to an environment ministry document and seven security, environmental and provincial officials who fear it could be used as a weapon if acquired by Islamic State.

The material, stored in a protective case the size of a laptop computer, went missing in November from a storage facility near the southern city of Basra belonging to U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford (WFT.N), the document obtained by Reuters showed and officials confirmed.

A spokesman for Iraq's environment ministry said he could not discuss the issue, citing national security concerns. A Weatherford spokesman in Iraq declined to comment, and the company's Houston headquarters did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The material, which uses gamma rays to test flaws in materials used for oil and gas pipelines in a process called industrial gamma radiography, is owned by Istanbul-based SGS Turkey, according to the document and officials.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-radiation-idUSKCN0VQ22F

[kimbutgar]

1. Vehicles we sent over to Iraq are coming backto the states loaded with radioactive materials...

There is a hospital in Washington State which is treating a lot of young American soldiers for cancer they got from being over in Iraq and coming in contact with radioactive materials.

The untold story of the Iraq war is going to be the large number of service people that will be diagnosed with strange cancers in the future.

[Darb]

2. What radio-active material, the sand?

We pulverized more depleted uranium over there than you can shake a stick at. The whole place is a radio-active shithole.

[Journeyman]

3. Finally, we're hot on the trail of an Iraqi WMD. We had to put it there, true, but still . . .

[benld74]

4. This was the theme of Madam Secretary Sunday evening except,,

it was in a fictituous country, and was stopped and was ONLY a TV show

[pediatricmedic]

5. This is material used in an industrial xray machine

It could be used in a dirty bomb and could contaminate an area the size of a city block. Cleanup would be very expensive and lingering health effects on people exposed pretty bad.

FYI, material like this can also be found in most hospitals and food processing centers.

[Igel]

7. Yes, but it won't stop people who see "radioactive" and "hazardous"

and only have minimal knowledge but maximum outrage and volume from ranting.

The usual meme is that depleted uranium = enriched uranium.

[OnyxCollie]

6. No need to worry.

Radioactive stuff gets stolen all the time.

WALL STREET JOURNAL ABSTRACTS
March 6, 2003, Thursday
RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL IS STOLEN FROM HALLIBURTON
BYLINE: BY RUSSELL GOLD
SECTION: Section B; Page 3, Column 2
LENGTH: 53 words

Halliburton Co says an oil-field device that contains radioactive americium 241 was stolen from its Nigeria operations in early December; atomic-watchdog officials are concerned that the material could be used to make a so-called dirty bomb, although there is no evidence that the theft is connected to terrorism

The Washington Post
November 30, 2003 Sunday
Final Edition
Smugglers Enticed by Dirty Bomb Components;
Radioactive Materials Are Sought Worldwide
BYLINE: Joby Warrick, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: A Section; A01
LENGTH: 2896 words
DATELINE: TBILISI, Georgia

Dozens of smuggling routes for nuclear and radiological materials have been charted over the past decade, but since 1999 a clear favorite has emerged. Judging from cases reported to police, nuclear traffickers have discovered abundant opportunity in Europe's southeastern flank: the Black Sea and Caucasus states that have long served as a crossroads linking Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Topping the list is Georgia, the former Soviet republic where huge crowds of demonstrators recently forced President Eduard Shevardnadze to resign. The small nation of 5 million suffers from porous borders, official corruption and rampant smuggling, problems exacerbated by three ethnic rebellions -- in the provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the north, and Adzharia in the south -- and regular incursions by guerrillas in the eastern region bordering Chechnya. In the conflict zones, trafficking in contraband has gone from a sideline trade to a thriving industry that supports tens of thousands of people, including, by some accounts, leaders of the rebel movements.

At least three times since 1999, officials have discovered kilogram-quantity caches of uranium in vehicles leaving or entering Georgia. In the most recent case, on June 26, just over a pound of uranium was seized at the Georgia-Armenia border by guards armed with U.S.-supplied radiation detectors, according to Georgian security officials. Tests to determine the origin and enrichment level of the uranium were carried out with the help of U.S. Energy Department officials. The agency has declined to release the results. Georgian officials say they believe the material originated in Russia and was being transported through Georgia for resale in Iran.

Another recent theft, viewed by U.S. and U.N. officials as especially grave, occurred in December when a large well-logger was stolen from a truck in Nigeria. The owner of the device was Halliburton Co., based in Houston, which conducted its own search for several weeks before notifying the U.N. nuclear watchdog of the loss.

BBC Sumary of World Broadcasts
June 16, 2004, Wednesday
Nigeria: Row seen brewing with Germany over missing radioactive material
SOURCE: The Guardian web site, Lagos, in English 16 Jun 04
LENGTH: 887 words

The justice minister and attorney-general of the federation, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, yesterday expressed dismay at Germany's seeming disregard for Nigeria in ensuring justice over the matter. He disclosed that the Nigerian government had already lodged its protest on the matter to its German and US counterparts as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Olujinmi said in the statement that the committee set up by the federal government visited Germany between 18 and 23 January this year with a view to retrieving the radioactive materials and to monitor the trial of all the suspects.

"To their dismay, however, the members of the committee were told that Halliburton had taken possession of the radioactive devices and had exported same to the US on 16 January 2004, two days before the committee was billed to arrive in Germany," Olujinmi disclosed.

The attorney-general said: "The federal government has protested to the German government against the abrupt, unilateral discontinuation of the criminal investigation, improper lifting of the seizure on the radioactive sources and release of sources to Halliburton USA despite the manifest registration of Nigeria's interest in the matter.

Africa News
June 21, 2004 Monday
Nigeria;
American Firm, Haliburton to Know Fate Soon
BYLINE: P.M. News
LENGTH: 216 words

Nigeria will next month release the report of a high-powered committee it constituted to investigate the activities of a U.S. petroleum service company, Halliburton.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the company, Halliburton Energy Services, was last year indicted by the federal government over the disappearance of two radioactive materials in the Niger Delta in 2002.

Halliburton had in December 2002, declared the radioactive materials missing while in transit between Warri, Delta State, and Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The hand-held materials contained Caesium-137, which can be used in a radioactive "dirty bomb", but are primarily used to x-ray oil wells and pipelines to check cracks, as well as for radiography, nuclear well-logging and nuclear gauging.

Xinhua
September 20, 2004 Monday
Nigeria imposes indefinite ban on awarding contracts to Halliburton,XINHUA
LENGTH: 360 words

ABUJA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria on Monday imposed a indefinite ban on the award of contracts to US oil service giant Halliburton's local subsidiary HENSL for its negligence that led to the loss of two ionizing radioactive sources.

"The federal government has decided to place an embargo on the patronage of Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Ltd. (HENSL) arising from its negligent conduct, which led to the loss of two ionizing radioactive sources from Nigeria in 2002," a statement from the State House said.

German authorities later intercepted them at a steel recycling plant in Bavaria, but refused Nigeria's request to return the materials and instead returned them to Halliburton. The company moved them to the United States in January this year.

The Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA) had in March suspended Halliburton from carrying out any activity involving the use, importation, transport and transfer of a radioactive source in Nigeria until the missing materials are recovered.

Africa News
September 21, 2004 Tuesday
Halliburton Barred From Receiving Contracts
BYLINE: Nigeria First
LENGTH: 418 words

The Federal Government on 20 September placed an embargo on the award of contracts to Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Limited (HENSL), an oil service company linked to United States (US) Vice President Dick Cheney.

This is as a result of what Government has termed "negligent conduct, which led to the loss of two ionizing radioactive sources from Nigeria in 2002." Thus far Halliburton has also failed to cooperate with government authorities in ensuring the return of the sources to Nigeria.

The two radioactive materials, which contained caesium-137, were reported missing by Halliburton while in transit between the southern Nigerian oil cities of Warri and Port Harcourt in December 2002. Efforts by the Federal Government to recover the lost radioactive materials since 2002, which has taken government officials to Germany where the materials were transferred, have not yielded results.

A committee headed by the Minister of Justice, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, which was set up to probe the theft, subsequently submitted an interim report to the President. The report claimed that the hand-held materials were later intercepted by German authorities at a steel recycling plant in Bavaria.

Africa News
December 6, 2004 Monday
Nigeria;
NNRA Confirms Return of Stolen Radioactive Materials
BYLINE: Daily Champion
LENGTH: 463 words

NIGERIAN Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) has confirmed the return by Halliburton Energy Services Nigeria Ltd of two stolen radioactive materials.

Speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) weekend in Abuja, the NNRA Director-General, Mr. Shamsudeen Elegba, said the American oil service company had recently brought back the controversial materials from Houston, Texas.

"The items are now legally under our control, while the company is physically having them, but we have sealed the items with special packs that cannot be broken without our consent," Elegba stated.

He said the agency had conducted various tests to ascertain integrity of the materials and confirm that they were the "real ones taken away."