Uranium in cargo - Heathrow Airport

[HeathrowAirport]

Police are investigating after metal contaminated with uranium was found at London's Heathrow Airport last month. Officers of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command responded to the security alert which was triggered on 29 December.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64231557

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIzIwyN4NWQ

[ETOPS]

The report in the Sun newspaper paints a different story involving an actual plot..

[HeathrowAirport]

The report in the Sun newspaper paints a different story involving an actual plot..

Worrying if true, but part and parcel of being in the UK sadly. We are a target.

[DuncanDoenitz]

To paraphrase The Sun; "Pakistani-Omani-Iranian aviation Uranium contamination situation prompts ultimatum memorandum".

Says spokesman.

[SWBKCB]

This is an intriguing sentence from the BBC report.... :eek:

​​​​​​​It was found in a shipment of scrap metal, a source said.

[Dave Gittins]

I heard this on Radio 4 this morning. Transporting scrap metal by air sounds highly unlikely (unless it was all uranium and only a small quantity).

[Consol]

Wasn't depleted used as ballast on some old 747s?

[SpringHeeledJack]

In the tail of early 747's I believe. The scrap-metal story sounds unlikely, unless it was scrap precious metals to be refined/recovered in some way and there was a portion of uranium within it by mistake or on purpose.

[ATC Watcher]

Wasn't depleted used as ballast on some old 747s?
i
In the counterweights of the ailerons as well. Quite a lot of it in the aircraft actually as some of the Amsterdam firefighters in the el al accident found out the hard way months later :(

[Peter H]

A slightly more informative news item
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/11/heathrow-uranium-seizure-raises-questions-over-what-it-was-for

[TheEdge]

A slightly more informative news item
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/11/heathrow-uranium-seizure-raises-questions-over-what-it-was-for

It was bound for an Iranian business with premises in the UK.

Well, the above says something...or maybe not.

[Winemaker]

Well, the above says something...or maybe not.
Sort of depends what isotope the Uranium was. If it was 'depleted' Uranium (U238 with U235 extracted) then it was pretty harmless. If it was U235 (weapon Uranium isotope) then worrying. Still, not a nice find.

[EDLB]

You put a probe into a mass spectrometer and you get a very good idea what the history of this sample was. I doubt, that we ever will hear the full true story...

[DaveReidUK]

In the counterweights of the ailerons as well. Quite a lot of it in the aircraft actually as some of the Amsterdam firefighters in the El Al accident found out the hard way months later :(

Reportedly around 400 kg.

[Maoraigh1]

If it was "metal bars contaminated with uranium" there is most likely an innocent explanation. Separating the uranium would be a problem for most businesses.A US facility had radiation alarms go off. Cause was a Mexican truck passing on I 25. It contained metal-framed office furniture made with steel contaminated with Cobalt 60. A disused hospital gamma ray device had been melted with the scrap and used to make steel.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez_cobalt-60_contamination_incident

[david120]

Reportedly around 400 kg.
and Korean 8509 at Stansted in 1999

newscientist.com/letter/mg16922755-800-what-happened-to-the-depleted-uranium

[MechEngr]

Oops U-235 is spicier than U-238.

Not as exciting as when the DoE sold an entire uranium enrichment plant to a scrap metal dealer and then provided the dealer the plans to assemble it under an FOIA request. He was steadfast on his request to be appropriately compensated after he made numerous calls to raise the issue as it could have gone anywhere in the world as stainless steel scrap.

[Consol]

Lots of radiological incidents globally (some fatal) caused by incompetent managers generally in health care settings. Cobalt isotope sources and the like not being tracked and properly decommissioned and ending up in scrap or bring 'salvaged' and ending up the same way. Quite easy to see how low level substances could end up mixed with others although scrap metal is not transported by air unless of extremely high value.

[Winemaker]

Lots of radiological incidents globally (some fatal) caused by incompetent managers generally in health care settings. Cobalt isotope sources and the like not being tracked and properly decommissioned and ending up in scrap or bring 'salvaged' and ending up the same way. Quite easy to see how low level substances could end up mixed with others although scrap metal is not transported by air unless of extremely high value.
They were probably looking for beta or neutron emissions, which do not define the emitter but do indicate there is radioactive material. Alpha doesn't penetrate much at all.

[FullWings]

Given the purported amounts (tiny) it does seem more likely to be contamination - there is lots of uranium all over the place, more concentrated in certain ores. Somewhere in the steelmaking chain it would be easy to incorporate radioactive material, especial if there was recycling involved and no-one checked the material being put it. As above, this has happened in the West on several occasions so you can easily imagine something untoward getting into the supply chain in Iran.

It’s also not a secret that there are radiation detectors at many airports, especially international ones, so not the first choice if you did want to move stuff like this around clandestinely.

[Luc Lion]

About the present incident in Heathrow and the quoted 747 accidents (El Al and others), one has to understand that U238 is used in quite many industrial processes.
U238 is NOT fissile but it is radioactive (half-life: ~4.5 billion years). It decays through an alpha radiation which is hardly detectable but its child product is the short-lived Th234 which has a half live of 24 days and decays with a beta- radiation (ie: electrons). This beta- radiation triggers radioactivity detectors.
U238 is used for photographic intensifiers, ceramic colorants, dental porcelain additives, armor–piercing bullets, specialised anvils, ballast (as in B747), radiation shields (yes, it looks contradictory, but it is efficient), etc.
It is quite possible that a disused material from one of these above activities has been mixed with other high-value scrap metal.
It is public knowledge that many international airports are equipped with radiation detectors; if this metal was intended for a malicious use, it would not have transited through Heathrow.

[ATC Watcher]

if this metal was intended for a malicious use, it would not have transited through Heathrow.
Out of curiosity, was there a mention somewhere of what kind of scrap metal the bars were ? looking on line at the resale price of scrap metals it goes from 20 cents a Kg for iron to 6 $/ Kg for pure copper. and most, like aluminium, between 1 and 2 $ /Kg. Asuming it was not copper, why would someone send low value scrap metal bars per air freight?

[Luc Lion]

Titanium scrap is also "cheap"; 0.77 EUR/kg
Palladium, maybe? 36,042 EUR/kg.

[Maoraigh1]

It is now reported the Iranian-linked receiver was licenced in the UK to handle uranium, so the "terrorist" suggestions from official sources read like poor attempts at propaganda.
Considering the start point, are bars of freshly smelted ore for separation of rare metals possible?
15kg of most metals will be very low volume.

[Load Toad]

Out of curiosity, was there a mention somewhere of what kind of scrap metal the bars were ? looking on line at the resale price of scrap metals it goes from 20 cents a Kg for iron to 6 $/ Kg for pure copper. and most, like aluminium, between 1 and 2 $ /Kg. Asuming it was not copper, why would someone send low value scrap metal bars per air freight?

Maybe it has precious metals or high-value metals in it - something that uses high-value metal could be scraped, smelted into an ingot and then sent to a specialist for refining and extracting the valuable portions. I've worked in companies that did such for catalytic converters, organometallic preparations and decorative materials.

[421dog]

Some years ago, I came back into the US through International Falls MN, and had the nice ICE people sweep my plane for nastiness as we were processed back into the country.

Everyone with a gun inspecting the plane got very excited just about the time that all of the passengers made it into the fbo. Seems there was a significant amount of radiation detected by their tricorders (or whatever)
Well, it turned out that the empty hole in my copilot panel that had been occupied by a dead RMI, and which I filled with a (it turns out) WW2 vintage vertical card compass that I found laying around someplace, had a radium painted dial…
Had some ‘Splainin” to do

[Buswinker]

Oops U-235 is spicier than U-238.

Not as exciting as when the DoE sold an entire uranium enrichment plant to a scrap metal dealer and then provided the dealer the plans to assemble it under an FOIA request. He was steadfast on his request to be appropriately compensated after he made numerous calls to raise the issue as it could have gone anywhere in the world as stainless steel scrap.

any more information on this?

[radeng]

A lot of WW2 meters and instruments were very radio active: generally alpha radiation, which can be stopped by a sheet of paper. The trouble comes if they are broken or otherwise opened, the luminous paint has generally started flaking and particles of its dust get inhaled with nasty results Some bits of ex-military gear are so bad for radiation, even through the glass fronts of meters, that they have been withdrawn from displays at museums.

[Atlasisrubbish]

I have suffered the indignity of explaining why certain readings have been made whilst carrying sealed boxes through airports.

[Maoraigh1]

RTE news : Man arrested over uranium found at Heathrow Airport

http://www.rte.ie/news/uk/2023/0115/1346857-uranium-heathrow/

[Asturias56]

Police in Cheshire detained the man, in his 60s, on Saturday. He has been bailed until April.

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "I want to be clear that despite making this arrest, and based on what we currently know, this incident still does not appear to be linked to any direct threat to the public.

"However, detectives are continuing with their inquiries to ensure this is definitely the case."

[EEngr]

If it was 'depleted' Uranium (U238 with U235 extracted) then it was pretty harmless.

Either way, Uranium is toxic. That's a chemical property, nothing to do with radioactivity.

[MechEngr]

any more information on this?
One version: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/09/20/energy-dept-surplus-sales-raise-proliferation-concerns/364eb095-526f-49f7-84cb-e03a256b154f/
Longer, far better version: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+world%27s+most+dangerous+yard+sale.-a015818779

[atakacs]

Either way, Uranium is toxic. That's a chemical property, nothing to do with radioactivity.
There area lot of potentially toxic products transported by air freight on a daily basis, some unfortunately not properly reported (as some firefighter sometimes discover).

As for this specific case the investigation is still ongoing but it seems more and more likely that it was not related to any nefarious plan.

[lightonthewater]

Many years ago, in the 1980's, I worked in an airfreight forwarders office and warehouse just outside Heathrow. Its was completely normal to find hazardous goods (paint / chemicals / essential oils / batteries etc) described in documentation, and packed as, non -hazardous cargo. Either because of ignorance of the hazard, (and you would hardly believe how ignorant they could be ) or to avoid the expense of packing it properly, and the extra cost of airfreight. Leaking drums were common and even when informed of the problem, the shippers would not believe that their goods could damage the aircraft or other cargo. Hopefully things are better managed now, though I have my doubts.

[Asturias56]

yeah but we just sent something via DPD and the list of "exclusions" was astounding - including a lot of things they've actually delivered to us from manufacturers

"human Flesh" as one we haven't seen yet tho'

[lightonthewater]

Asturias: we had 'exclusions' as well, and the hazardous packing regs were also sent to customers, but somehow this didn't stop 'mis-declaration ' of cargo, inadvertent or otherwise. As a matter of comparison: a couple of years ago, after a maritime 'incident' where a ship became unstable, all the shipping containers on board were taken off, weighed and the contents checked. Over 20 percent were found to be substantially overweight, in some cases but 200 percent more than the weight declared. The actual contents, likewise, often more little relation to the contents said to be in them. The consequences on the stability and safety of the ship are obvious. (I have been a shipbroker for some 40 years, and know whereof I speak)