Smuggler’s Plot Highlights Fear Over Uranium

Officials in Georgia, a former Soviet republic, have arrested people carrying around uranium samples in garbage bags – and involved US officials in their investigations. Defying security measures imposed on such nuclear material, the sellers seek interested buyers. Terrorist groups and even some insecure nations would be willing to pay hefty amounts for the ingredients of a nuclear weapon, analysts suggest. Most nuclear material seized from smugglers is Russian in origin, reports “The New York Times.” The US and Russia have stockpiles of nuclear weapons, 25,000 warheads in all, and in a world of porous borders and desperate entrepreneurs, it is amazing that all the uranium and weapons parts remain secure. – YaleGlobal