Radioactive metal bound to Iran Seized by Russian Customs

Russia’s customs agency informed the seizing of radioactive metal from the luggage of an Iranian traveler heading for Tehran. Spokeswoman Kseniya Grebenkina informed Associated Press that the passenger has been detained.

The Federal Customs Service stated that is agents discovered 18 pieces of metal at Moscows’s Sheremetyevo airport after a radiation alarm was activated. The alarm gauges showed that the radiation levels were 20 times higher than normal.

The metallic pieces contained Sodium-22, a radioactive isotope of sodium that can be created in a particle accelerator. Sergei Novikov a spokesman of the Rosatom nuclear agency pointed out that the pieces were not made with nuclear reactors. Grebenkina of the Custom Service insisted that the material seize is not highly radioactive. (AV)