Unsecured Asian radioactive waste risks dirty bomb

CANBERRA, Monday (Reuters) -Nuclear experts raised concerns on Monday that militants could get hold of enough material to build a "dirty bomb" from two unsecured sources of radioactive waste found in Southeast Asia.

Experts from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) have been searching Southeast Asia and the Pacific for the past year for radioactive waste to ensure it is disposed of properly and cannot be used in a contamination bomb.

ANSTO chief of operations Ron Cameron declined to name the countries involved, but said most of the nuclear material in the region had been used in hospitals and medical centres for X-rays and for radiation treatment for cancer patients.

"One of the reasons we're putting so much effort into this project and working with the region is to raise awareness and bring all of these sources under control because there is the potential for the larger sources to be used in a dirty bomb," Cameron told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

In one case, Cameron's 10-member team found a piece of cobalt which had been abandoned when a radiation therapy centre had closed down, while a second source of material was found in another country under similar circumstances.

Conventional explosives wrapped around radioactive material could make a so-called dirty bomb, which would do little immediate damage but could contaminate large areas of a city, cause increased cancer rates and create panic and disruption.

"A dirty bomb is not a weapon of mass destruction, it is a weapon of mass disruption," Cameron said. "The major consequence of a dirty bomb would be panic and that is of course what the terrorists are after."

He said such a bomb could contaminate large areas, which could be difficult to clean up.However, he said it would be difficult for militants to identify and procure the material, as most radioactive waste is strictly controlled.

ANSTO is Australia's nuclear research and development organisation. It runs Australia's only nuclear reactor, which produces radioactive products for medical use.