Georgia arrests two over plan to sell radioactive substance

TBILISI: Georgia has arrested two men for attempting to sell nearly US$360,000 worth of a radioactive substance, security services said yesterday, the latest in a series of such plots in the Caucasus nation.

The men were arrested in the ex-Soviet republic’s secondlargest city of Kutaisi as they attempted to sell a container of americium-241 for 300,000 euros (US$359,400), Georgia’s state security service said in a statement. They face up to 10 years behind bars.

Americium-241 is the most prevalent isotope of americium in nuclear waste and is commonly found in smoke detectors.

It is produced when plutonium absorbs neutrons in nuclear reactors or during nuclear weapons tests, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. — AFP