Uzbekistan - nonproliferation and continuous activities on countering nuclear materials and other radioactive sources illicit trafficking

Full text: Countering illicit trafficking of nuclear weapon and its components is an important task in the modern world. For this reason, at the borders and customs points the control of transportation is to be conducted in order to determine radioactive and fissile materials in them. This report presents the results of works performed in the period of 2001 - 2005 years on the program for development of radiation monitors and equipping the Uzbekistan border customs points with them, in order to fight the smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials. The Republic of Uzbekistan is located on the transit transportation crossroad, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Western Europe - to the North, and Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and others - to the South. Therefore, this program is important for saving peace in the world and fighting any attempts to create nuclear weapon in the region. The radiation monitoring equipment is installed at the border customs points through which the transportation enters the Uzbekistan and at the Tashkent International Airport where passengers arrive by air. Also, the customs points are equipped through which the transportation quits for South and international passenger depart. The radiation portal monitors are designed by CIS Aspect (Dubna, Moscow region), however, we develop our own portal monitoring system which can be produced after certification. The Institute of Nuclear Physics provides the technical expertise that includes installation, calibration, maintenance, and secondary alarm response; mobile response units are being developed to rapidly and accurately identify seized material and recommend handling procedures. At present we are accumulating information on the alarm from the Yantar - type radiation monitor at the customs check-points and examining characteristics of the system to improve the results of our research