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VIENNA / NUCLEAR SLEUTHS
STORY: VIENNA / NUCLEAR SLEUTHS
TRT: 2.09
SOURCE: IAEA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 23 DECEMBER 2009, VIENNA, AUSTRIA / FILE
23 DECEMBER 2009, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
1. Pan left, IAEA Logo outside IAEA Analytical Laboratory building
2. Close-up, gloved hands sorting out testtubes
3. Med shot, two scientists in lab overalls and hats working inside the clean lab
4. Close-up, female scientist’s concentrated face
5. Close-up, gloved hand filling testtube
6. Close-up, monitor screen depicting data from the clean lab
7. Med shot, scientists maning computer stations inside clean lab
8. Close-up: Sample being lowered into a machine.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) David Donohue, Head, IAEA Clean Laboratory:
“We’ve been in business for quite some time actually. It started back in the early nineties. We were doing inspections in Iraq after the Gulf war in 91. We did inspections in North Korea and South Africa. These are some big stories at that time of nuclear activities in those countries that the Agency wanted to know more about. So we measured the plutonium produced in North Korea. A long time ago, we measured all the uranium that was made in Iraq. More recently we’ve been involved in Iran – the enrichment facilities in Iran, so we can find particles of enriched uranium that they produced there or which came there from imported parts maybe, coming from the black market even – so these are the types of things that we can detect now.”
FILE – MAY 1991, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
10. Med shot, scientists working in a plant
FILE – OCTOBER 1994, SOUTH AFRICA
11. Med shot, IAEA inspectors outside South Africa plant
FILE – DECEMBER 2001, AL SHAHEED, IRAQ
12. Wide shot, aerial view in Iraq
13. Close-up, inspector’s hand taking swipe samples
14. Med shot, inspector taking swipe samples inside a rocket factory in Iraq
15. Close-up, inspector’s face
16. Med shot, inspector taking swipe samples inside a rocket factory
23 DECEMBER 2009, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Balsley, Head, IAEA Chemical Analysis Unit:
“ Uranium and plutonium are the two main fissile elements that are used for generating power in nuclear power reactors, but they are also the elements that are used, the fissionable elements most commonly used in producing a nuclear weapon. So we are most interested in keeping a very close eye on where the fissionable isotopes of those two elements are moving around in the nuclear fuel cycle.”
18. Med shot: Men sitting at a station in the chemical and analysis lab.
19. Close-up: Gloved hand adjusting a machine.
20. Med shot: Shot showing the gloved hands working inside a box.
21. Close-up: Gloved hand fitting parts into the machine.
22. Close-up: Man operating the machine wearing protective glasses.
23. Med shot: Gloved hand turning parts on the machine.
24. Med shot, scientist in a lab coat fitting a part inside the machine
25. Med shot, scientist in lab coat working at the machine
26. Close-up, man operating the machine wearing protective glasses
27. Med shot, door being closed on the machine and locked by a gloved hand
28. Close-up, electronic dial on the machine flashing
At the Safeguards Analytical Laboratory in Austria, scientists from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) test environmental samples gathered from places like Iran, Iraq and North Korea looking for telltale signs of uranium or plutonium that can reveal illegal nuclear activities.
The scientists use highly sensitive instruments like electron microscopes and mass spectrometers that can detect particles 100 times smaller than a human hair. For instance, they tested dust swipes collected from a rocket factory in Iraq on the eve of the second Gulf War. The test results found no evidence of illegal activities.
SOUNDBITE (English) David Donohue, Head, IAEA Clean Laboratory:
“We’ve been in business for quite some time actually. It started back in the early nineties. We were doing inspections in Iraq after the Gulf war in 91. We did inspections in North Korea and South Africa. And more recently we’ve been involved in Iran, the enrichment facilities in Iran, so we can find particles of enriched Uranium that they produced there or which came there from imported parts maybe, purchased on the black market maybe, so these are the types of things that we can detect now.”
The IAEA recently adopted a resolution on Iran after the country constructed a new enrichment facility in breach of its obligation to suspend all enrichment related activities.
In order to check if a country’s nuclear books are balanced, IAEA inspectors and scientists compare their results and measurements to the country’s declared nuclear activities.
At the Chemical Analysis Unit in the facility, nuclear samples taken from nuclear facilities are scrutinized to make sure that these samples of converted, enriched or fabricated uranium are solely used for energy purposes.
SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Balsley, Head, IAEA Chemical Analysis Unit:
“Uranium and plutonium are the two main fissile elements that are used to produce power in a reactor but they are also the fissionable elements most commonly used in producing a nuclear weapon. So we are most interested in keeping a very close eye on where the fissionable isotopes of those two elements are moving around in the nuclear fuel cycle.”
To maintain anonymity, all samples are coded and their origins are left unknown to the scientists testing them.
The IAEA is expected to upgrade its facilities to stay a step ahead of nuclear proliferators, and provide independent, scientific data.
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