Russia seized radioactive material about to send to Iran

A package of radioactive isotopes for research and medical purposes was seized at an airport in Moscow, when it was about to leave for Iran.

"Tests show that the substance being seized is Sodium-22," AFP said in a statement from Russian customs yesterday. "A criminal investigation has been opened and radioactive material is transferred to prosecutors".

Russian customs discovered Sodium-22 thanks to a warning system at Sheremetyevo Airport, just before a flight from Moscow to Iran's capital Tehran took off. The radiation level at the airport lobby is 20 times higher than the normal level. A bag of a passenger is then checked.

Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow's Russian capital.

"18 metal objects of industrial origin were discovered. They were placed in a personal steel box," Russian customs said. "Subsequent tests show that these objects are actually radioactive sodium-22 isotopes and manufactured by machine".

There are no more details about the other passengers' package or identity. A spokesman for Russian national energy agency Rosatom, Sergei Novikov, said Sodium-22 was used for research and medical purposes. It is made up of magnetic resonance accelerators, a kind of particle accelerator, not from nuclear reactors.

"There are a lot of magnetic resonators in Russia," Novikov said, adding that these machines are used in medical and educational facilities, where security levels are not as strict as in other countries. nuclear reactor. Rosatom only provides Iran with medical isotopes, including Molybdenum-99 and Iodine-131.

Russia is the country that helped Iran build the first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr, while providing nuclear fuel for the reactor at the plant.

Iran's nuclear program has long been worrisome for Western countries, as these countries say Tehran is aiming to produce nuclear weapons. However, Iran denies this and affirms the Islamic nation's nuclear program for peaceful purposes only.