KYIV, October 22 – Ukrainian authorities detained the third Russian man in a month for allegedly trying to sell radioactive materials, a news report said Monday. Police detained a Russian man and an undisclosed number of “unemployed residents” of the southeastern city of Pavlohrad after they allegedly tried to sell 16 grams (one-half ounce) of strontium-90 and plutonium-239, the Interfax news agency reported.
Plutonium-239, in larger amounts, is used in nuclear weapons. Srontium-90 has applications including nuclear batteries. Police in Pavlohrad were not immediately available for comment.
City officials took measures to secure the population of some 110,000 from danger after experts said radiation levels where the container was found exceeded the norm by 40 times.
Last month, police in Pavlohrad arrested a 26-year-old Russian who allegedly tried to sell a container of strontium-90 believed to have been obtained in the Russian city of Zlatoust in the Ural Mountains, media reports said.
The United States and other nations have long expressed serious concern about the illegal trade in nuclear materials from the former Soviet Union.
