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C O N F I D E N T I A L WINDHOEK 000030 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR STATE ISN/CTR AND PM/ISO/PMAT (24/7) 
FOR DS/IP/SPC/WMD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2019 
TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM KCRM PTER PREL ASEC WA
SUBJECT: NAMIBIA: NUCLEAR SMUGGLING INCIDENT/DRILL 
 
REF: A. 2007 STATE 162091 
     ¶B. PELLETREAU/MATHIEU EMAIL JAN. 30 2009 
 
Classified By: Ambassador G. Dennise Mathieu for reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
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Summary 
- - - - 
 
¶1. (C) At the request of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC), Post wishes to alert the Department and Washington 
agencies -- per reftel -- that it has received a report 
indicating an unannounced (and as yet unconfirmed) drill 
designed to simulate the discovery of illicit radiological 
material and plans to make a dirty bomb.  Post was not/not 
contacted by Namibian authorities. This report was sent to 
post by the Department of State's Namibia desk officer, who 
had been notified by the NRC.  The NRC received a call on 
January 29 from a company that claimed it had been notified 
of the discovery of Cesium 137 in Namibia and the plans for a 
dirty bomb.  The caller to the NRC later stated the incident 
was a drill.  Post has been unable to confirm any of the 
information regarding the possible incident/drill.  We are 
continuing to investigate.  End Summary. 
 
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Details of the incident 
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¶2. (C) On January 30, Post was informed by the State 
Department's Namibia desk officer that, on January 29 at 
2:00pm EST, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) hotline 
received a call from Chemtrek, a hazmat and radiological 
clean up company that operates in the United States.  The 
Chemtrek office was on the line with a Namibian fire 
safety/police officer calling from Namibia.  The Namibian, 
Turk Cloete, said there had been a car accident in Vandyke 
and that field officers had discovered a radiological 
substance (Cesium 137) and plans to build a "dirty bomb" in 
the vehicle.  The Namibian used the term "dirty bomb." 
Chemtrek decided to call the NRC because of the dirty bomb 
reference. 
 
¶3. (C) The NRC suggested Mr. Cloete contact Axel Tibinyane in 
the Namibian Ministry of Health's Radiation Protection 
Service Group.  As the NRC was preparing to alert the 
inter-agency, Mr. Cloete said he had just been informed that 
the incident was a drill and that he should not have called 
the NRC.  He apologized profusely and hung up.  NRC decided 
to stand down on the inter-agency alert, but called the State 
Department's Namibia desk officer to ensure State was 
informed. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - 
Incident Follow-up 
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¶4. (C) On January 30, Emboff contacted Mr. Tibinyane in the 
Namibian Ministry of Health to try to learn additional 
details.  Tibinyane told us that he was unaware of the 
alleged exercise, but that he would undertake an 
investigation to determine what may have occurred.  He was 
not familiar with Mr. Cloete or Chemtrek.  He noted that 
similar drills are routinely conducted in Namibia but in 
coordination with the IAEA, and that his office is normally 
involved when a drill is conducted. 
 
¶5. (C) Separately, Post's RSO reached out to a senior police 
Commissioner, who said neither he nor his staff had received 
any reports of a radiological detection drill.  The police 
are not familiar with a town called Vandyke, the location 
cited in the alleged drill. 
 
¶6. (C) Post will continue to investigate the incident. 
Action officer at post for handling this incident is Econoff 
Frank DeParis, reachable via phone at  261 61 295-8549 or 
email at deparisf(at)state.gov. 
MATHIEU