Pakistan calls for probe into seizure of uranium in India
ISLAMABAD, MAY 9: Pakistan on Saturday expressed serious concern over illegal possession of a large quantity of uranium by two unauthorised persons in India and pointed to gaps in state control mechanisms there.
“We have noted with serious
concern the reports about seizure of more than 7kg natural uranium from
unauthorised persons in India,” Foreign Office Spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri
said.
Indian authorities had on
Wednesday seized 7.1kg of natural uranium and arrested two persons — Jigar
Pandya, 27, and Abu Tahir Afzal Husain Choudhary, 31 — in Nagpur. The seized
uranium is worth $2.9 million.
It is believed that the uranium had been stolen or illegally mined. It was reportedly unprocessed as it had not been refined and converted to “yellow cake”.
It isn’t clear to whom did the
two men want to sell it. It is believed that it could have been channelled to the
international black market.
The very fact that some people
stole or illegally mined uranium raises concerns about nuclear safety and
security in India. It also indicates the possibility of a nuclear market
existing in India that could be connected to international players.
“Security of nuclear materials
should be the top priority for all countries,” Chaudhri said.
“There is a need for thorough
investigation of the matter as to how such sizeable quantity of uranium could
become available outside any state control and identify the gaps which made
this possible,” he added.
Pakistan did not raise the matter
with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear
watchdog, because it has been the government’s policy that security of nuclear
material is a national responsibility.
However, India should report this
incident to the IAEA’s Incident and Tracking Data Base mechanism as the uranium
could have been trafficked to non-state or state actors or handed over to other
rackets.
India’s nuclear safety and
security record is not very impressive. Lax state control, as indicated by the
latest seizure of uranium, shows that India still has to go a long way before
becoming a responsible nuclear power and be accepted as a member of the Nuclear
Supplier Group, a nuclear expert said.
According to an Indian
parliamentary report, 147 mishaps or security-related occurrences were reported
in Indian atomic energy plants between 1995 and 1998. Out of these instances,
28 were of acute nature and nine of these occurred in nuclear power
installations.
More worrying, the expert noted,
is the fact that nuclear arsenal is in the hands of an irresponsible extremist
government. India has been a customer in nuclear black market, he said, adding
the Indian state must regulate nuclear material or else could be considered complicit
in their trafficking.
Soon after the news about the
seizure broke, some quarters began expressing apprehensions that it could have
landed in the hands of Hindu extremists, who could have used it for making
dirty bombs.
However, this is far from the truth. Natural uranium is not useful for making dirty bombs. For that cobalt 60 etc. are far more lethal. Seven kilograms of natural uranium contains about 0.049kg of U235, which is the bomb material, provided someone could subject it to an enrichment process, a challenge in itself, according to nuclear experts.
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