MOSCOW. Jan 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechen guerillas do not possess technologies of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device, Russian Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Anatoly Kotelnikov said in response to an inquiry of the State Duma lower house of parliament.
Kotelnikov's statement was circulated in the Duma on Tuesday.
"To manufacture a nuclear explosive device, it is necessary to have a certain amount of weapons-grade fissionable materials (plutonium or high-enriched uranium) and possess high technologies of designing a nuclear explosive device. The system of control and registration of weapons-grade fissionable materials and the system of their physical protection created and put into operation in the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry do not make it possible to steal the amount of such materials necessary to manufacture a nuclear explosive device. In all known cases, thieves only got hold of non-weapons-grade uranium. There have been no cases of stealing weapons-grade uranium," the deputy minister wrote.
At the same time, he did not rule out other manifestations of nuclear terrorism.
"In particular, there is a danger of spraying radioactive substances, including with the help of blast technologies (radioactive terrorism). Acts of radioactive terrorism are primarily dangerous for causing panic, their destructive efficiency is limited," Kotelnikov wrote.