UPDATE ON CESIUM-137 CONFISCATED FROM ARMENIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 002526

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, INR, NP/ECC, EUR/ACE, CBP/INA, NP/PTR,
EUR/RUS, EUR/RPM, DS, IO/T, INR/SPM, S/CT, S/P, S/S-O

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2014
TAGS: PINR KNNP MNUC PARM KCRM PTER ASEC AM KPRP
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON CESIUM-137 CONFISCATED FROM ARMENIAN
NATIONAL

REF: A) STATE 236159 B) YEREVAN 02450

Classified By: DCM A.F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) We met November 18 with Ashot Martirosyan, head of the
Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (ANRA) and underscored the
USG's continued interest in this cesium-137 seizure case
(refs A and B). Martirosyan stated that he had still not
received any substantive information from the Armenian
National Security Service (NSS) about the seizure and/or why
the Armenian national had the material. NSS officials had
only informed Martirosyan that the Armenian national in
custody refused to say where he acquired the cesium.
Martirosyan told us that he had not informed the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of this incident
because he did not have even basic information about the
radioactive source, or whether there was any contamination
into the local environment. Martirosyan told us that when he
received this information he would report in full to the
IAEA. We pressed Martirosyan to ensure that Armenia
fulfilled its reporting obligations.


2. (C) Martirosyan told us that he reported the December
2003, Government of Armenia (GOAM) seizure of a container of
strontium-90 to the IAEA. Martirosyan stated that there was
a IAEA release from February 9, 2003, describing a level 2
INES event out of Armenia, titled "Unshielded Radioactive
Source Found in Metal Scrap." Martirosyan also showed us
that the event was listed on the Nuclear Events Web-based
system (NEWS). Martirosyan stated that the GOAM had
contacted Russian authorities concerning this container.
Russian authorities could only confirm that the container was
produced during the Soviet period and that the records
pertaining to the container were lost and probably not
retrievable. Martirosyan was not optimistic that the origin
of the strontium-90 container would be ever clear.
EVANS