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Seized uranium is of low grade: BARC

A police official said the uranium is U-38 and U-35, which is not dangerous.

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The Mumbai crime branch on Monday evening arrested three people for illegally possessing 5kg of depleted uranium. The trio, identified as Premsingh Tangayan Savitri, 40, Srinivasan Vyankat Chalpati, 37, and Tulsidas Bhanushali, 39, were arrested from Sai Nagar in Panvel.

“Mrinal Roy, regional director of Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, central region, Nagpur, had lodged a complaint with Panvel police about three people arriving in the suburb with uranium. The crime branch officials laid a trap and arrested them,” DCP (crime) DT Shinde said on Tuesday. The Panvel court on Tuesday remanded them in police custody till December 17.

A police official, who did not want to be quoted discussing issues relating to national security, said the uranium is U-38 and U-35, which is not dangerous. “Barc officials have confirmed that the seized substance cannot be used to make explosives and there is no cause for panic. The source, from where the substance was coming, and its destination, will be revealed during the course of investigation,” Shinde added. The accused have been booked under section 24 (1) (a) of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, for illegal possession of a prescribed substance.

Savitri is a resident of Sai Leela building at Sai Nagar in Panvel and runs a business of precious stones, Chalpati is a resident of sector 19 in Vashi and is into the transport business, while Bhanushali is a resident of Ghatkopar and deals in raw materials, the official added.

Uranium can’t be reused: “Natural uranium is extracted from the earth crest and contains mainly two isotopes of uranium - U-238 (99.3%) and U-235 (0.7%). The third isotope, U-234, is present in very low percentage in natural uranium. Depleted uranium has less U-235 (used in nuclear reactors) as compared to natural uranium. In the seized substance, this percentage is 0.2%,” said DN Sharma, head, radiation safety systems division, Barc. Depleted uranium, Sharma said, cannot be used as an explosive.
He said though uranium is a chemically toxic element, it cannot be inhaled or ingested in
the seized form and hence it is not harmful to human health or the environment.

“Depleted uranium cannot be reprocessed or used in a nuclear reactor and is used as shielding material which checks undue exposure to gamma ray radiation,” said RK Sharma, head of media relations and public awareness section, Barc.
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