Tweet
YEREVAN DENIES ARMENIAN ORIGIN OF URANIUM SEIZED FROM SMUGGLERS IN GEORGIA
Interfax
Nov 16 2010
Russia
Yerevan denies that highly-enriched uranium that was earlier
confiscated from two Armenians in Georgia had entered the country
from Armenia.
"I cannot say how this uranium could have gotten to Georgia, but there
is no and has never been highly enriched uranium in Armenia. The
level of enrichment of uranium discovered in Georgia was 87%. This
is the maximum level of uranium enrichment, and we have never had
such [uranium]," Ashot Martirosian, the chairman of the Armenian
governmental committee on nuclear security, said at a press conference
on Tuesday.
Armenia uses three types of low-enriched uranium enriched to 1.6%,
2.4% and 3.6%, Martirosian said.
Armenia's authority on the international arena could not be damaged by
the affair, as the country clearly complies with all of its commitments
under international conventions, he said.
"All nuclear materials in Armenia, from nuclear fuel for power stations
to micrograms, are under control of the governmental committee and
the IAEA [the International Atomic Energy Agency]," he said.
It was reported earlier that Georgia had arrested two Armenian citizens
attempting to sell 120 grams of highly-enriched uranium in Tbilisi
in March 2010. The Armenian National Security Service later arrested
another Armenian citizen on suspicion of involvement in smuggling.
Georgia claimed that the uranium had been taken to Tbilisi on a train
from Yerevan. The smugglers were trying to sell the uranium for $8
million, according to the Georgian Interior Ministry.
From: A. Papazian
Interfax
Nov 16 2010
Russia
Yerevan denies that highly-enriched uranium that was earlier
confiscated from two Armenians in Georgia had entered the country
from Armenia.
"I cannot say how this uranium could have gotten to Georgia, but there
is no and has never been highly enriched uranium in Armenia. The
level of enrichment of uranium discovered in Georgia was 87%. This
is the maximum level of uranium enrichment, and we have never had
such [uranium]," Ashot Martirosian, the chairman of the Armenian
governmental committee on nuclear security, said at a press conference
on Tuesday.
Armenia uses three types of low-enriched uranium enriched to 1.6%,
2.4% and 3.6%, Martirosian said.
Armenia's authority on the international arena could not be damaged by
the affair, as the country clearly complies with all of its commitments
under international conventions, he said.
"All nuclear materials in Armenia, from nuclear fuel for power stations
to micrograms, are under control of the governmental committee and
the IAEA [the International Atomic Energy Agency]," he said.
It was reported earlier that Georgia had arrested two Armenian citizens
attempting to sell 120 grams of highly-enriched uranium in Tbilisi
in March 2010. The Armenian National Security Service later arrested
another Armenian citizen on suspicion of involvement in smuggling.
Georgia claimed that the uranium had been taken to Tbilisi on a train
from Yerevan. The smugglers were trying to sell the uranium for $8
million, according to the Georgian Interior Ministry.
From: A. Papazian