13 11 2007 Banja Luka, Belgrade _ Nearly 1,000 kilograms of radioactive material has disappeared from a hospital in the Republika Srpska capital of Banja Luka, a police official said on Tuesday.
The official acknowledged that "being radioactive, the material could be used for the production of a so called dirty bomb." However, he said that he did not believe that this was the case since "we have firm control over that aspect of the country's security." The official spoke to Balkan Insight by phone from Banja Luka and on condition of anonymity.
A dirty bomb is a device which combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. It has limited force but can spread radioactive material over a wide area. Although it has not yet been used, it is regarded as a potential weapon of choice for terrorists.
"The radioactive material used in diagnostics and therapy vanished from a hospital basement where it was stored in lead containers," RS Health Minister Ranko Skrbic was quoted as saying by local media.
Skrbic was also quoted as saying that the waste does not pose any danger to the public and that the containers would likely be sold as scrap metal as "they are heavy and have a certain market value."
He said the police had launched an investigation but did not specify whether any arrests had been made.
Bosnia has no nuclear facilities and it imports all radiactive material for scientific or medical use. Neigboring Serbia still maintains a defunct nuclear reactor in Vinca, just outside Belgrade. It also plans to develop a small facility for research and medical use. In 2002 Serbia sent all unused nuclear fuel rods to Russia for reprocessing. Former Yugoslav republic Slovenia operates a single nuclear powerplant in Krsko.
According to a United States-brokered peace deal that ended the 1992-95 war Bosnia is divided into two entities, the Republika Srpska and the Bosnian Federation. (BIRN)
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