FOLLOW UP ACTIONS ON RADIOLOGIC MATERIAL IN

UNCLAS DHAKA 000913 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DOE FOR NNSA, ANNE KOHNEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ENRG MNUC PARM PTER TRGY BG SUBJECT: FOLLOW UP ACTIONS ON RADIOLOGIC MATERIAL IN BANGLADESH ¶1. (SBU) Following the visit of the DOE team to Bangladesh in May 2004, Gammatech, Ltd. in Chittagong was identified as the most critical radiologic security concern in Bangladesh. On February 22, EconOff visited the defunct Gammatech factory to check on the status of the facilities and the radiologic material therein. ¶2. (SBU) The factory, which previously had been wide open, now has metal doors blocking all entrances. There was also a uniformed guard roving around the yard. The manager of a nearby factory explained that the BAEC had come and "sealed" the factory and he did not have a key to it. When one door was tested, it proved to be locked. The FSN Investigator accompanying EconOff held a camera through a broken window and took several photographs, emailed to Anne Kohnen at the U.S. Department of Energy. The pictures show a single, large, mostly empty room with a few pieces of what may be machinery or pulleys. When asked if it was possible to get photographs of the rooms deeper inside the factory, the rooms where irradiation had taken place, the plant manager explained that the BAEC had taken down all inner walls and made the whole factory one big room. ¶3. (SBU) According to the BDG, DOE proposals for securing radiologic material in Bangladesh are currently with the Law Minister for his decision on whether the proposals must be put before the full Cabinet. On March 1, the DCM followed up on the issue with the Law Minister who promised to get more information and call her back. THOMAS