Colombian military says it found uranium linked to FARC

[struggle4progress]

Posted on Wed, Mar. 26, 2008
By FRANCES ROBLES
[e-mail]

Colombian authorities said they seized up to 66 pounds of low-grade uranium hidden off the side of a road in southern Bogotá on Wednesday, which the Colombian Defense Ministry said belonged to FARC guerrillas.

The Defense Ministry said the discovery adds weight to the evidence found in a laptop belonging to slain guerrilla leader Raúl Reyes, which showed the rebels were interested in buying and selling the uranium on the international underground market.

But the 30 kilograms of uranium found in plastic bags dug about three feet from a road in southern Bogotá was ''impoverished,'' the ministry said, and in that state could not have been used to make a radioactive bomb. Authorities were waiting for further analysis to determine how dangerous the material found really is, Armed Forces commander Freddy Padilla told a news conference late Wednesday.

It was not clear if Colombian authorities meant that they had found depleted uranium, which is the residue left after the mineral is processed to make nuclear energy or nuclear weapons. In its natural state, uranium has low radioactivity and it has to be enriched through a sophisticated process to generate nuclear energy or to make nuclear weapons. According to Colombian daily El Tiempo, the country does not possess the technology to enrich uranium ...

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/471631.html

*snork*

[AlphaCentauri]

1. Some Sense About Uranium and Dirty Bombs

by Ivan O, Federation of American Scientists
March 26, 2008 10:21 PM EDT

The Columbian military recently raided FARC camps just across their borders. The Columbians confiscated lap top computers containing emails between the FARC and dealers offering to sell them explosives, which the emails suggested included uranium that the dealer was willing to sell for about one million dollars a pound. The press has several times bit on these types stories, sensationalizing them and getting the science all wrong.

There seems to be a widespread idea that uranium can be used for nuclear weapons. Well, it can. That is, one isotope of uranium can be, but natural uranium is less than 1% of that isotope and enriching it is a daunting technical challenge. (Many chemical elements have more than one isotope, atoms that have identical chemical properties but slightly different weights.) Since uranium can power nuclear weapons and nuclear bombs, it must be highly radioactive and could at least be used as a dirty bomb, right? Wrong, but you would never know by reading most such stories in the newspapers. So it is refreshing to read a story that gets it right and is properly skeptical. Kelly Hearn of The Washington Times has written that piece.

Since uranium is available on the spot market for about $70 per pound, the asking price of a million a pound should raise suspicions. This price might be justified if the uranium were enriched, that is, mostly uranium-235. If the uranium were enriched, it would be a huge story. I find it very difficult to imagine how a non-state terrorist organization could enrich natural uranium; the technology and manufacturing are simply too much. If a terrorist group could, however, get hold of sufficient quantities of uranium-235, then I can easily imagine how they could construct the simplest possible nuclear bomb that would have an explosive force equal to a few thousand tons of TNT. Exploding such a bomb in a major city would make every past terrorist attack pale. Given the consequences, any possibly, even a remote possibility, that terrorists might have got hold of enriched uranium should be taken seriously and investigated.

But many related past newspaper articles have been weak on several points: they are vague on the important differences between uranium and enriched uranium; they incorrectly assert or imply that, even if not useful for a nuclear bomb, then uranium could be used to make a dirty bomb; and they are insufficiently skeptical of these reports, failing to put them into context by explaining how common uranium and dirty bomb scams are. Most recently, there was a flurry of articles about the supposed highly enriched uranium that was found in Slovakia. The story did not make sense from the beginning and most of the science in the press coverage was, at best, muddled if not flatly wrong. Notice that that story has totally disappeared. I asked a couple of the reporters who wrote about it what had happened and they tell me that the Slovak police simply stopped talking about it. Perhaps because they had some big case but my guess is because they realized they had misspoken early on. So I welcome Hearn's article. The story really is not so much about this one case in Columbia but about the need to be cautious in all such cases. Certainly, loose enriched uranium is something to worry about, but we need to keep our heads, not sensationalize, and get the science straight if we are to have any hope of making good decisions.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977294414

[struggle4progress]

3. Since this dog and pony show worked fer Iraq, th'morons don't wanna let it go: they're gonna keep

pushin it fer Iran and here we see 'em pushin it for th'FARC with big ideas o'tyin th'whole thing round Venezuela's neck

Where, incidently, does depleted uranium come from? From th'countries that it enrich U fer weapons or fuel, o'course -- places like th'US&A

[AlphaCentauri]

4. yesterday Colombian troops where "attacked from Ecuador" today Uranium, what's next?

with all the technology used to bomb the camp in Ecuador they did not capture anybody from yesterdays attack, now they found Uranium near a road side with out a proof of who planted there, I guess the colombian government is desperate to continue with the propaganda. And the next thing will be the 300 millions, those might be flying in a private jet at this time looking for a place to drop them.

[AlphaCentauri]

2. FARC's uranium likely a scam

Scientists studying a purported proposal by Colombian rebels to sell uranium for about $1 million a pound say the plan sounds like a scam.

The reason: Ordinary uranium can't be used in a nuclear weapon; it is a poor choice for a terrorist "dirty bomb"; and it is worth only about $100 a pound.

Colombian forces earlier this month seized a computer during a raid in Ecuador, in which an e-mail from a midlevel leader in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) claimed to have access to "50 kilos of uranium," — about 110 pounds — from an arms supplier, and proposed to sell it at the exorbitant price.

Matthew Bunn, a nuclear specialist at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and other scientists expressed skepticism about the proposal.

Mr. Bunn said the e-mail contains "considerable indications that a scam of some kind was involved, since the quoted price of $2.5 million per kilogram is roughly 10,000 times more than natural uranium is worth."

"To me, this suggests the FARC people dealing with the issue knew little about the subject," he said.

Mr. Bunn said the uranium likely available in Colombia or Ecuador is worth about $100 a pound.

The e-mail, dated Feb. 16, 2008, and translated by The Washington Times, is reportedly written by Edgar Tovar, a regional FARC commander, to Raul Reyes, a FARC leader who was killed in the March 1 raid.

It begins by recounting a litany of deaths, defections and plans for the Marxist guerrilla group. It then mentions financial difficulties befalling the group due to cocaine eradication efforts, presumably referring to joint U.S.-Colombian aerial spraying to kill coca plants.

" situation remains difficult due to the eradication and fumigation," Tovar writes.

He then says "another of the issues is Uranium," telling of a man in Bogota named Belisario who "sells explosives that we prepare."

Tovar said the contacts "propose the sale of each kilo at $2.5 million and that they deliver and we look to see who to sell to, and that it should be a business with a government."

Tovar writes that his suppliers have 50 kilos (110 pounds) ready, "and they can sell much more; they have direct contact with those who have the product."

Ivan Oelrich, a chemist and physicist at the Federation of American Scientists, said it is unlikely the rebels are talking about uranium to make an atomic bomb.

Natural uranium is a heavy metal that is only slightly radioactive. However, it contains trace amounts of a rare isotope that will support the nuclear chain reaction of an atomic bomb.

Massive amounts — perhaps 100 times the amount FARC proposed selling — would be needed to extract enough of the rare isotope for one or two atomic bombs.

Moreover, the extraction process is highly technical, typically requiring thousands of connected centrifuges spinning at supersonic speeds for long periods of time.

"If it is regular uranium they are talking about, it would require a huge industrial task to convert into something that is bomb grade," said Mr. Oelrich.

An example often cited is Iran's attempt to enrich uranium, which would require 3,000 centrifuges continuously operating for nearly a year to produce enough material for one nuclear bomb.

Colombian officials speculated that the uranium offered by FARC could be used to make a so-called dirty bomb, in which conventional explosives are used to spread radioactive debris.

Even that would be unlikely, said Steve Kidd, of the London-based World Nuclear Association.

"In this form, is only lightly radioactive and would be useless in a dirty bomb," Mr. Kidd said.

The e-mail does not mention a customer by name, but it is presumed that FARC is proposing a uranium sale to Venezuela. The nation's president, Hugo Chavez, is sympathetic to FARC and has negotiated with the guerrilla group for the release of hundreds of hostages, many of whom have been held for years.

Rep. Connie Mack, Florida Republican, on Friday proposed a resolution declaring Venezuela a state sponsor of terrorism, citing the proposed uranium sale.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, also a Florida Republican, backed the proposal.

"It is vital that Congress and the administration have access to the volumes of information that might determine whether Chavez has aided the FARC in its war on the people of Colombia," said Ms. Ros-Lehtinen.

Other documents released from the seized laptop reportedly indicate Mr. Chavez either paid or pledged $300,000 to FARC.

"It is highly conceivable that trying to expand their income flows by obtaining and selling high explosives on the black market," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org.

"And it is conceivable that Venezuela"s Chavez may be intrigued by such a prospect, and certainly Iran would be," Mr. Pike said.


http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/FOREIGN/517318036