Nuclear risksThere were dirty bomb ingredients in ISIS-controlled Mosul

Published 24 July 2017

Two years ago, researchers at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Science and International Security discovered that there were apparently two sources of radioactive cobalt in Mosul which posed a risk of being used in a dirty bomb. Mosul came under DAESH (ISIS) control a year earlier. The Institute, for security reasons, did not publish the results of the research, choosing instead to share it with the U.S. intelligence community. Now that Mosul has been liberated, the Washington Post, on Saturday, ran an exclusive story on the topic. DAESH never used the radioactive materials, and it is not clear whether the Islamist organization was aware of the radioactive sources under their control.

Two years ago, in the summer of 2015, the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Science and International Security decided to investigate whether DAESH (Islamic State) controlled dangerous radioactive material in Iraq or Syria. The Institute says that the result of a few months of study by Sarah Burkhard, a young scientist, and other staff surprised the Institute’s staff. Their investigations found that there were apparently two sources of radioactive cobalt in Mosul which posed a risk of being used in a radiological dispersal device.

The Institute’s researchers could not know whether DAESH was aware of these sources and their potential, or had already taken possession of them. The Institute produced a confidential research study which it used to alert the United States and other friendly governments of the situation as the Institute’s researchers knew it. Most of these governments were also monitoring the situation.

At the same time, the Institute decided not to publish any of our results. “As we learned more, we updated our study, which remains a confidential report due to its sensitivity,” the researchers say.

The Institute says that it is “very relieved” that these two, older albeit still dangerous, cobalt 60 sources were not found and used by DAEESH. They were recovered intact recently. The Institute notes that it is particularly grateful to Joby Warrick at the Washington Post, who the researchers had alerted early on for assistance in researching the fate of these sources. “He understood the importance of digging into this story while delaying its publication until the radioactive sources were in safe hands. He and his colleagues at theWashington Post recently added greatly to this important story,” the Institute says.

Background
DAESH rapidly seized control of the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014 and inherited with it, unknowingly to the public, two cobalt 60 teletherapy machines carrying highly dangerous nuclear material. These machines were procured years ago, in the 1980s or even 1970s, for the treatment of cancer and conducting research.