Russian Marines Steal Radioactive Fuel On Nuclear Submarine

Russia Today Link
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Feb 1, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Four Russian marines stole radioactive fuel on their nuclear submarine so they would have some cash for their return to civilian life after military service, military prosecutors told AFP on Tuesday.

The three conscripts and an officer serving in Russia's Pacific fleet, were arrested and the fuel retrieved after it disappeared on January 13 from the submarine based in Vilouchinsk-3 au Kamchatka in the far northeast of Russia.

Some parts of the submarine containing precious metals such as silver or platinum were also retrieved.

(c) 2000 Agence France Presse

I wonder about "the ones that got away".

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 01, 2000

Answers

Even though it would not be usable in a bomb, it could be a weapon of small-scale terror...(radiation exposure). Is that warm feeling in my stomach heartburn???

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 02, 2000.

Be SCARED. Be VERY SCARED.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), February 02, 2000.

Hawk,

Here is something to be scared of:

http://www.bashar.com/GSP/chernobyl3.htm

I dunno...what do you think? There are only some 430 commercial nuke reactors, plus non-commercial reactors, plus military reactors, plus nuclear fuel processing facilities, plus ultra-toxic nuclear waste.

Best overview of "the problem" I have seen is:

"Global Dumping Ground" Bill Moyers & Center For Investigative studies (book). Check amazon / barnes&noble

talk about "spooky"....wow.

thanks for the post Possum,

-- steve (Possum&Hawk'NMonk@Care.See?.com), February 03, 2000.

If I were one of those that stole the material, I'd be scared, very scared .....

... of dying of exposure very quickly.

This story makes no fundemental sense: from any standpoint: nothing they stole could be used for anything, nothing (except the other gold and platnimum contacts) could be sold for anything, and if enough were stolen to give to terrorists to distribute enough radioacive material to actually harm anybody, it's enough to very rapidly kill the those who stole it....the Japanese who were exposed to less for shorter periods of time were hospitalized under critical conditions for months now. Thus, they evidently stole too little to matter.

Enough to be inconvenient certainly, and messy to clean up; but if they lived long enough to steal it and move it off the ship, it's not enough to harm anybody else.

But, if it is a true report of an actual incident - it proves the stupidity of some in the "jean pool."

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), February 04, 2000.

<<< makes no sense >>>

You are correct, of course, except consider that the people stealing this kind of material may be uneducated as to the dangers, are desperate for money, and may in fact be "pawns" for others who think (incorrectly, perhaps) that they can find a buyer for this stuff. Reference some of the reports in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and elsewhere as to the low (or non-existent) quality of radiactive materials offered for sale...usually to undercover police in Europe.

-- Andre Weltman (aweltman@health.state.pa.us), February 04, 2000.