Georgians, Armenians arrested in Georgia for planning to sell uranium for $200 million

[Rex Kwon Do]

Six people – three Georgian and three Armenian citizens – were arrested while trying to sell radioactive Uranium-238, the Georgian State Security Service said on Monday.

“These individuals were planning to sell nuclear material Uranium (U238) for 200 million USD in Tbilisi, when they were detained,” the Georgian security agency said, adding that court ordered pre-trial detention of all six people on April 16.

The State Security Service has declined to give the amount of Uranium-238, stored in a container, which, it said, was found in one of the arrested person’s home. The security agency has also declined to report other details of the case.

Source: http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=29110

Supposedly one of these guys is in his 70s. Isn't this really a young man's game?

I'm not up on the uranium market...is $200 million dollars a lot? What kind of amount would $200M buy you, and what could you do with that amount? Who in the community of baddies would be the type to try to purchase uranium from a bunch of guys in Georgia? Seems like these guys weren't exactly the most reliable types to buy it from, storing it in their fucking apartment. Who in that community has $200 million floating around?

I believe @JDragon said he has a formal education in nuclear proliferation, so perhaps he can give some insight.

For anyone who slept through geography:

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Market standards: its about 6-7 million pounds of it.

But they would need to enrich it to U-235 if they want to be naughty with it - that would reduce the weightage by a lot. Would also add significant costs.

 

[Luger]

I wonder if it really was uranuim.
I remember reading that when Al Qaeda was trying to buy it from the Soviet black market, they got scammed by some other stuff.
It was some known scam that had been taking place since the 70s.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

Market standards: its about 6-7 million pounds of it.

But they would need to enrich it to U-235 if they want to be naughty with it - that would reduce the weightage by a lot. Would also add significant costs.

So around 30 pounds? Interesting. Now the question is, why would they buy $200M of uranium from some jokers in Georgia? Is North Korea not selling?

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

I wonder if it really was uranuim.
I remember reading that when Al Qaeda was trying to buy it from the Soviet black market, they got scammed by some other stuff.
It was some known scam that had been taking place since the 70s.

Interesting. But someone with $200M...they'd probably be the type that would do their research, right? Certainly they'd know about all those scams, too. There's gotta be a reason they went with these guys. I don't know how hard it is to get this type of uranium in this quantity. Maybe they were desperate so they went with these guys.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

So around 30 pounds? Interesting. Now the question is, why would they buy $200M of uranium from some jokers in Georgia? Is North Korea not selling?

yeah, its about 30 bucks a pound.

Georgians could be acting as a middleman for a bigger player? I dont think a country with that kind of weightage available for sale would want to be traced back to this.

 

[Luger]

Interesting. But someone with $200M...they'd probably be the type that would do their research, right? Certainly they'd know about all those scams, too. There's gotta be a reason they went with these guys. I don't know how hard it is to get this type of uranium in this quantity. Maybe they were desperate so they went with these guys.

I'm really stoned at the moment so I can't recall the name of that other stuff, but Al Qaeda got scammed for a pretty decent sum.
I forget what it was.
It was in the book The Looming Towers, if I remember it correctly.

Edit: found some article on it

http://www.wired.com/2010/04/al-qaeda-scammed-in-its-quest-for-nukes/

“There have been numerous reports over the years, over the past eight or nine years, about attempts throughout the world to obtain various types of purported material that is nuclear related,” he said. “We know that al-Qaida has been involved in a number of these efforts to acquire it. Fortunately, I think they’ve been scammed a number of times, but we know that they continued to pursue that.”

How, exactly, do you run a nuclear scam? Brennan hinted that it was a lucrative line of business for criminal groups in the former Soviet Union. “Sometimes they’re criminal gangs that have information that some material had come out from the, let’s say, the area of the former Soviet Union or some stockpiles and they will try to provide that material to other groups to sell,” he said. “As I said, a lot of it is scam, you know, red mercury, whatever else.”

Red Mercury is what it is called.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

yeah, its about 30 bucks a pound.

Georgians could be acting as a middleman for a bigger player? I dont think a country with that kind of weightage available for sale would want to be traced back to this.

Makes sense, since a bunch of Georgians and Armenians obviously didn't go in the backyard and dig this shit up. They got it somewhere, and if it's worth $200 million bucks, it's must be rare as hen's teeth on the market. So the question is, where could a group of guys from the Caucasus acquire this amount? It's an absurd amount of money for 6 people so like you said, they are probably just be pawns. Where, then, did it come from?

Some more details if that helps: it was in a "factory-produced container" and was "depleted and not highly radioactive."

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Makes sense, since a bunch of Georgians and Armenians obviously didn't go in the backyard and dig this shit up. They got it somewhere, and if it's worth $200 million bucks, it's must be rare as hen's teeth on the market. So the question is, where could a group of guys from the Caucasus acquire this amount? It's an absurd amount of money for 6 people so like you said, they are probably just be pawns. Where, then, did it come from?

Some more details if that helps: it was in a "factory-produced container" and was "depleted and not highly radioactive."

Oh, if its depleted then all the isotopes used for energy or weapons were already removed. They still could use it in ammo production. That adds a lot of countries on the possible list of supply origin. Theres like 9 countries around that region that use it in power generation. My guess it was one of their left overs after they enriched it.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

Oh, if its depleted then all the isotopes used for energy or weapons were already removed. They still could use it in ammo production. That adds a lot of countries on the possible list of supply origin. Theres like 9 countries around that region that use it in power generation. My guess it was one of their left overs after they enriched it.

Ammo? What kind of ammo uses uranium? I'm guessing something nasty since it costs $200M.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Ammo? What kind of ammo uses uranium? I'm guessing something nasty since it costs $200M.

Its fairly common

Its used as a very, very effective armor piercing round.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

Its fairly common

Its used as a very, very effective armor piercing round.

Very interesting. I'm guessing the reason these guys weren't allowed to sell it and the reason it goes for $200M on the black market is because respectable countries that have depleted uranium due to their energy plants either discard it, or maybe only sell it to domestic or allied arms mfgrs?

I wonder how many casings they can make with that much. They're really well-heeled if they can afford to drop this much dough for something to improve ammo. What are we thinking...ISIS?

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Very interesting. I'm guessing the reason these guys weren't allowed to sell it and the reason it goes for $200M on the black market is because respectable countries that have depleted uranium due to their energy plants either discard it, or maybe only sell it to domestic or allied arms mfgrs?

I wonder how many casings they can make with that much. They're really well-heeled if they can afford to drop this much dough for something to improve ammo. What are we thinking...ISIS?

I am not really sure what the international standards are for left over, depleted uranium. Really, its not all that dangerous from a radioactive standpoint -- unless it gets lodged in you. The primary alpha particles it emits are blocked by skin, even the gamma rays are fairly weak (although i trust the theory more than i would standing next to it).

Even still, cant imagine any country would be straight up allowed to sell it, though? There has to be protocol on ways of disposing it. Maybe JDragon can fill us in on that? I know this stuff was readily available during the gulf war.

Sorry i am not more help

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Jesus Christ. We really are all fucked.

Spoiler

So this ammo can be found on the deep net or what?

 

[jemimaman]

.

 

[VivaRevolution]

Last weeks VICE episode was showing a kid who built a nuclear reactor in his garage, that was powered by Yellow cake, that he made.

Apparently it was all legal.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

Last weeks VICE episode was showing a kid who built a nuclear reactor in his garage, that was powered by Yellow cake, that he made.

Apparently it was all legal.

The kid from the Midwest? I read a book about him a couple of years ago. Fascinating story. He ended up being a loser, despite the promising start in life as a self-taught nuclear scientist.

Title is The Radioactive Boy Scout.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

Jesus Christ. We really are all fucked.

Spoiler

So this ammo can be found on the deep net or what?

Of course a thread that turns out to be about ammo attracts Cubo like a moth to a flame.

 

[VivaRevolution]

The kid from the Midwest? I read a book about him a couple of years ago. Fascinating story. He ended up being a loser, despite the promising start in life as a self-taught nuclear scientist.

On VICE they were saying he should have his first 8 production proto-types for his truck sized nuclear reactors that run on radioactive waste.

I see stuff like that, I wonder how it is possible we haven't solved our energy needs with nuclear.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

On VICE they were saying he should have his first 8 production proto-types for his truck sized nuclear reactors that run on radioactive waste.

I see stuff like that, I wonder how it is possible we haven't solved our energy needs with nuclear.

Oh, definitely a different kid. The Radioactive Boy Scout is not successful last I read; definitely doesn't have prototypes for reactors, haha. He looks like a tweaker now.