F.B.I. probes uranium offer

Press, 20 March 1978, Page 8

F.B.I. probes uranium offer

NZPA Washington Attempts by European commodity traders to sell in the United States 108 kg of uranium possibly obtained from the black market are under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the “Washington Post” reported yesterday.

The report, based upon documents on file at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and interviews around the country, said that a Washington commodities broker was contacted last summer by an exiled Albanian and' an unidentified Swiss businessman who said thev had uranium to sell for a 5U52.65 million a kilogram.

The offer to sell the material. said to be enriched enough to make nuclear weapons, was passed on to the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the largest American supplier of uranium, the newspaper said. But the firm turned down the offer and immediately reported it to the F. 8.1. and

the Central Intelligence i Agency, the “Post” said. The newspaper said the incident appeared to be the first serious attempt to sell uranium obtained on the black market if such a black market exists. “Sources close to the investigation said that one fear was that the uranium had been smuggled out of the Soviet Union,” the newspaper said.