VLADIKAVKAZ - Authorities have discovered an unprotected cache of radioactive material on the grounds of a destroyed chemical plant in the Chechen capital Grozny, a news agency reported Wednesday. The plant's director said two teenagers died of radiation poisoning after stealing a container of the material.
The material was found in a workshop at the Rodon plant in Grozny's Zavodskoi district, the plant's director Ziva Kadyrov told the Interfax news agency.
Kadyrov did not identify the substance, but said it was kept in 17 containers. He said a group of teenagers from the nearby village of Kirov had stolen one of the containers, and that two of them had died from radiation poisoning. He did not say when the deaths had occurred or whether the container the victims took had been recovered.
He said that the plant was now under heavy guard and that workers would dispose of the material.
The discovery came amid continuing concerns about the security of Russia's nuclear materials and fears that Chechen rebels could acquire them for use in terrorist attacks.
Kadyrov told Interfax that 12 radioactive "sources" are missing in Chechnya, including some from a university in Grozny.
He said the Rodon plant had disposed of 80 containers of radioactive material since 2000, either burying them or transferring them to safe storage sites outside Chechnya. /The Associated Press/
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