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Tue, Dec 28, 2010 | WikiLeaks

(Archive file: Reuters)

WikiLeaks: Yemen Sounds Alarm over Radioactive Materials

A storage facility housing Yemen’s radioactive material was unsecured for up to a week after its lone guard was removed and its surveillance camera was broken, a secret US State Department cable released by WikiLeaks revealed Monday.

The message, dated January 9, relates the worries of a Yemeni official, whose name was removed, about the unguarded state of a National Atomic Energy Commission facility. He pushes the US embassy to urge his own government to secure the material.

“Very little now stands between the bad guys and Yemen’s nuclear material,” the official is quoted as saying in the cable, which appeared on the website of the British Guardian newspaper.

Read related article in the Guardian here.

Source: WikiLeaks

Saturday, 09 January 2010, 05:04

S E C R E T SANAA 000019
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AMACDONALD AND ISN/NESS MHUMPHREY
EO 12958 DECL: 01/08/2020
TAGS ENRG, ECON, MNUC, PARM, PREL, PGOV, IN, YM
SUBJECT: XXXXXXXXXXXX SOUNDS ALARM OVER
UNPROTECTED RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
REF: A. 07 SANAA 1905 B. 07 SANAA 2029
Classified By: Ambassador Stephen A. Seche for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).

1. (S) The lone security guard standing watch at Yemen’s main radioactive materials storage facility was removed from his post on December 30, 2009, according toXXXXXXXXXXXX. XXXXXXXXXXXX. The only closed-circuit television security camera monitoring the facility broke six months ago and was never fixed, according to XXXXXXXXXXXX. The facility XXXXXXXXXXXX holds various radioactive materials, small amounts of which are used by local universities for agricultural research, by a Sana’a hospital, and by international oilfield services companies for well-logging equipment spread out across the country. “Very little now stands between the bad guys and Yemen’s nuclear material,” a worried XXXXXXXXXXXX told EconOff.

2. (S) Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told the Ambassador on January 7 that no radioactive material was currently stored in Sana’a and that all “radioactive waste” was shipped to Syria. XXXXXXXXXXXX

3. (S) XXXXXXXXXXXX told EconOff that XXXXXXXXXXXX the XXXXXXXXXXXX was moved late on January 7 from the largely unsecured NAEC facility XXXXXXXXXXXX implored the U.S. to help convince the ROYG to remove all materials from the country until they can be better secured, or immediately improve security measures at the NAEC facility. XXXXXXXXXXXX

COMMENT

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4. (S) Post will continue to push senior ROYG officials to increase security at all National Atomic Energy Commission facilities and provide us with a detailed accounting of all radioactive materials in the country. XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXXXXXX’s concern over the safety and security of Yemen’s modest nuclear material inventory, however, appears genuine. XXXXXXXXXXXX. Post POC is EconOff Roland McKay, mckayrd@state.sgov.gov. SECHE