US embassy cable - 05DHAKA913

UNCLAS DHAKA 000913 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DOE FOR NNSA, ANNE KOHNEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, ENRG, MNUC, PARM, PTER, TRGY, BG 
SUBJECT: FOLLOW UP ACTIONS ON RADIOLOGIC MATERIAL IN 
BANGLADESH 
 
1.  (SBU) Following the visit of the DOE team to Bangladesh 
in May 2004, Gammatech, Ltd. in Chittagong was identified as 
the most critical radiologic security concern in Bangladesh. 
On February 22, EconOff visited the defunct Gammatech factory 
to check on the status of the facilities and the radiologic 
material therein. 
 
2.  (SBU) The factory, which previously had been wide open, 
now has metal doors blocking all entrances.  There was also a 
uniformed guard roving around the yard.  The manager of a 
nearby factory explained that the BAEC had come and "sealed" 
the factory and he did not have a key to it.  When one door 
was tested, it proved to be locked.  The FSN Investigator 
accompanying EconOff held a camera through a broken window 
and took several photographs, emailed to Anne Kohnen at the 
U.S. Department of Energy.  The pictures show a single, 
large, mostly empty room with a few pieces of what may be 
machinery or pulleys.  When asked if it was possible to get 
photographs of the rooms deeper inside the factory, the rooms 
where irradiation had taken place, the plant manager 
explained that the BAEC had taken down all inner walls and 
made the whole factory one big room. 
 
3.  (SBU) According to the BDG, DOE proposals for securing 
radiologic material in Bangladesh are currently with the Law 
Minister for his decision on whether the proposals must be 
put before the full Cabinet.  On March 1, the DCM followed up 
on the issue with the Law Minister who promised to get more 
information and call her back. 
 
THOMAS