Slovenian govt refutes Russian dirty bomb tweet

Ljubljana/Moscow, 26 October – The Slovenian government has responded to a Russian Foreign Ministry tweet featuring a photo from Slovenia alongside a warning that Ukraine was preparing to use a so called dirty bomb by stressing that radioactive waste in Slovenia is stored safely, is under supervision and is not used for dirty bombs.

One of the photos published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday shows transparent bags of radioactive material with the inscription in Slovenian “radioaktivno”.

The photo was taken in 2010 and is the property of the Agency for Radioactive Waste (ARAO), the Slovenian government explained in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

“It was used for professional presentations for the general and interested public as explanatory material. The photo shows smoke detectors that are subject to general use,” one of the tweets says.

“They contain a radioactive source, but not any of the radioactive sources listed in the table below the photo. The photo was published without the knowledge of ARAO.”

“Radioactive waste in Slovenia is stored safely and is under supervision. It is not used for making of any dirty bombs,” the government wrote.

A dirty bomb is a term used to describe a conventional weapon carrying nuclear material. It usually consists of an explosive and radioactive material, which may be in the form of small pellets or powder. Its purpose is to disperse nuclear material, which makes it particularly dangerous to civilians.

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