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