Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
John Gilbert, Senior Science Fellow of the Center’s Scientists Working Group on Biological and Chemical Security, spoke with MassLive about the FBI’s investigation of the illegal selling of plutonium.
John Gilbert, a senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, while the small amounts allegedly sold by Miller is nowhere near the amount needed for a nuclear bomb, plutonium is deadly if handled incorrectly.
If its powder is breathed in — even in small amounts — it causes “extremely, extremely bad respiratory distress,” he said.
Gilbert said it is unlikely the material prosecutors said came from smoke detectors was plutonium, as the Soviets “needed all the plutonium they could get.” Rather, another radioactive element — americium — is good for use in smoke detectors, and it is not as dangerous, he said. Read more
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