Illicit nuclear activities of Armenia have been a subject of concern of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as other organizations, which presented some cases of trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive materials by Armenia in their reports.
In particular, the following examples of Armenia's illicit nuclear activities are presented in Annual statistics reports of the IAEA Incident and Trafficking Database (IDTB), Database on Nuclear Smuggling, Theft, and Orphan Radiation Sources (DSTO).
Georgia's State Security Service detained three citizens of Armenia and three citizens of Georgia with trying to sell $200 million worth of Uranium-238 that was found in the home of one of the Georgians. It is also known that the group of 3 Armenian citizens, previously worked at the Metsamor NPP. One of the detainees was identified as a former associate of the Armenian secret service. This group planned to sell Uranium-238 to the Middle East region.
Repeated seizures at the Armenia-Georgia border and the unusually high number of Armenian nationals implicated in nuclear trafficking cases provide sufficient evidence to confirm the existence of the Armenian route. Some of these cases involved seizures of of weapons-usable nuclear material. Radioactive sources could be also used for malicious purposes, for example in a radiological dispersal device or 'dirty bomb'.
Uncontrolled radioactive sources also have the potential to harm human health or the environment. Unlawfully discarded or disposed of radioactive sources, when melted at scrap metal recycle plants, may lead to severe environmental and economic related consequences, Trend reports.
