Smuggled Uranium not a Serious Concern

So I did a little research about the smuggled uranium featured in several news stories in Kenya. From what I can tell, there's not much to these stories, if anything.

For example, the material is said to be uranium hexflouride, packed in a 20 cm metal cylinder that weighed about nine kilos. But U-hexafluoride is a corrosive gas, used when enriching uranium, and there are no enrichment facilities in that part of Africa. And if it's in that small a cylinder, then it's not much uranium at all, because U-hexaflouride containers are usually huge.

The stories also describe the uranium as having more than 1,000 and possibly more than 2,000 Becquerel (Bq) of radioactivity per kilogramme--more than the amount that local Kenyan authorities could safely measure. But Bequerels are the tiniest units of radiation -- amounting to 1 disintegration per second. I'm told you could hold 1,000 Bq in your hand without risk. In fact, 1,000 Bq is about equal to the dose of radiation you might swallow as a pharmaceutical to help with medical imaging.

By contrast, the quantity of radioactive material considered "significant" for creating a terrorist "dirty bomb" is usually 1000 Curies -- almost 10 billion times larger than what was mentioned!

So, bottom line: the smugglers probably filled an old container with a bit of unprocessed uranium ore dug out of the dirt in Katanga--and tried to pawn it off to unsuspecting buyers. Apparently, this sort of scam isn't all that uncommon in this part of the world.

Remember that Smuggled Uranium?

I reported on here and here? The Daily Nation follow-up says that the uranium was "too hot to handle" locally, and implies that it was sent to the US for analysis and review. No US media stories on the topic, as far as I can tell.

Supposed Uranium Smugglers Arrested in Kenya

Kenya's Nation newspaper is reporting that two men were arrested for smuggling uranium into the country from DR Congo. One of the two men had an ID indicating he was a Ugandan soldier. The article takes pains to say that it has not been established yet that the material the men were trying to sell is in fact uranium.

On the one hand, it's probably a scam. On the other, Shinkolobwe, the uranium mine in Katanga, is apparently an unguarded open pit, surrounded by peasant farms. Supposedly any accessible uranium is useless for production of an atomic weapon, but as part of a "dirty bomb" the material could be effectively frightening.

Various stories have circulated over the years regarding Congo's uranium. At one point, it was said that the Italian mafia had attempted to buy radioactive material stolen from Kinshasa's nuclear research reactor. That Kinshasa has a nuclear research reactor is astonishing in itself.

See here for a report on conditions at the reactor. See here and here for details on the mafia's smuggling ring.