IAEA seeking nuclear devices in Georgia - report
Date: 01-Feb-02
Country: USA
The magazine said men gathering wood had found the devices, evidently once used in a generator, and had become ill after handling them, prompting the action by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
Government officials and scientists fear that various groups might get hold of nuclear waste or industrial nuclear devices to make a so-called dirty bomb that could spread toxic radiation when exploded. It would have less devastating blast effect than an actual nuclear bomb but would be dangerous.
"The crisis began with a fax on Christmas Eve from Georgian authorities," Science reported in Friday's issue.
"Three men gathering wood near Lja on 2 December 2001 had found two containers that appeared to have melted the nearby snow. Lugging the containers back to their campsite for warmth, the men soon became dizzy and (nauseated) and started vomiting," the report said.
"Within a week, radiation burns began to develop on their backs. On January 4, 2002, the IAEA dispatched three investigators to Tblisi, but heavy snows and rough terrain prevented them from reaching the objects." The team is still trying to retrieve the devices, the report said.
Abkhazia, which declared independence from Georgia in 1991, has remained outside the Georgian government's control and Georgian guerrillas regularly clash with the Abkhazian military.
The magazine said nuclear devices had been found in the area before. A fisherman found one in a riverbed in 1998 that was later found to contain very large amounts of radioactive strontium-90.
The article said Western officials did not know what the devices had been used for, but the 1998 device appeared to have been designed as a heat generator.
The IAEA, a United Nations agency, monitors the peaceful use of nuclear power worldwide.
