[print_logo_russian.gif] _________________________________________________________________ Customs service seizes depleted uranium in Russia region 28.01.2005, 13.28 MOSCOW, January 28 (Itar-Tass) - The customs service in a Volga region has seized more than 37 kilograms of depleted uranium. A spokesman at the Federal Customs Service told Itar-Tass on Friday that workers of the Orenburg customs service spotted the dangerous cargo on Wednesday during examination of a car with a radiation detector. The radiation-emitting object was a cylindrical protective container intended for remote manipulation with radioactive substances. It contained 37.5 kilograms of uranium-238, which is a depleted form. An owner of the container described it in a customs declaration as a "dumb-bell". He said he had found it at a dump and used it for exercise and sometimes straightened nails with it. Specialists are looking for the origin of the container. A criminal case on an attempt of contraband of a radioactive substance has been opened. Specialists of the Russian Agency of Atomic Energy told Itar-Tass that neither a conventional nor "dirty" bomb could be made from the confiscated amount of uranium. Uranium-238 is one of the most available elements in the earth crust. About 60,000 tonnes of uranium a year is extracted in the world. _________________________________________________________________ ) ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy, store in any medium (including in any other website), distribute, transmit, re-transmit, broadcast, modify or show in public any part of the ITAR-TASS website without the prior written permission of ITAR-TAS. [spacer.gif]