US should do more to discourage nuclear black market: official

WASHINGTON: The US government is not doing enough to buy uranium and plutonium on the black market to keep weapons away from terrorists, criminals and rogue states, the Energy Department's top intelligence official said.

"We must take urgent action to scoop up any nuclear material outside state control before terrorists do," Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Energy's intelligence director, said in a speech at the Washington Institute.

Since 1993, 1,300 nuclear-smuggling related incidents have been recorded, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. About 19 have involved the transfer of weapons-grade uranium or plutonium, which could be used to fuel either a traditional nuclear warhead or to turn a conventional explosive into a bomb to disperse radiation.

"The continuing instances of trafficking in nuclear materials means we collectively have not done enough to keep material out of the hands of terrorists," he said. "We must urgently intensify efforts to acquire any materials that may be for sale on the illicit nuclear market."

Nuclear weapons materials exist including some former Soviet republics. Only a few kilograms of plutonium would be needed to make a primitive nuclear weapon, and such material is hard to detect in transit because it emits low levels of radiation, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington.

The amount of nuclear material US agents already buy on the black market is classified.