Smuggling Uranium For Peaceful Purposes
Congo's Atomic Energy Chief Arrested for Selling UraniumNow for Part IIKINSHASA, Congo — The head of Congo's atomic energy commission has been arrested on suspicion of illegally selling uranium found in the Central African mineral giant, officials said Wednesday.
Fortunat Lumu, the director of the country's only nuclear center, and one of his aides were arrested Tuesday "because they were accused of having illicitly sold a quantity of uranium," Attorney General Tshimanga Mukendi said.
Mukendi refused to give information on the amount of uranium or the alleged buyer, saying those details were part of an investigation.
He added only that they were accused of orchestrating illicit contracts to produce and sell uranium.
National police representative Michel Kanka confirmed the arrest, but also refused to give details.
In August, Congo's government emphatically denied a report in The Sunday Times of London that a uranium shipment left its territory in 2005 bound for Iran, saying the dangerous element was tightly controlled by international agencies. Officials declined to say if there was any connection between the arrest and the alleged 2005 shipment.
The Sunday Times said the uranium was suspected of being extracted illegally from Congo's southeastern Shinkolobwe mine, which was closed in 1961.
Iran's plot to mine uranium in AfricaIRAN is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb, an investigation has revealed.
A United Nations report, dated July 18, said there was “no doubt” that a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania, was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo.
Tanzanian customs officials told The Sunday Times it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check.
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A senior Tanzanian customs official said the illicit uranium shipment was found hidden in a consignment of coltan, a rare mineral used to make chips in mobile telephones. The shipment was destined for smelting in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, delivered via Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port.
“There were several containers due to be shipped and they were all routinely scanned with a Geiger counter,” the official said.
“This one was very radioactive. When we opened the container it was full of drums of coltan. Each drum contains about 50kg of ore. When the first and second rows were removed,the ones after that were found to be drums of uranium.”
In a nuclear reactor, uranium 238 can be used to breed plutonium used in nuclear weapons.
The customs officer, who spoke to The Sunday Times on condition he was not named, added: “The container was put in a secure part of the port and it was later taken away, by the Americans, I think, or at least with their help. We have all been told not to talk to anyone about this.”
Just look away, apparently there is nothing to see here.