Moscow. March 6. INTERFAX - Ukrainian specialists were working in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to produce a "dirty" bomb and to release plutonium, an informed source in one of the competent departments of the Russian Federation told Interfax.
"It is worth noting the use of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant zone as a nuclear weapons development site. It was there, judging by the available information, that work was underway both on the manufacture of a "dirty" bomb and on the release of plutonium. The increased radiation background, natural for the Chernobyl zone, concealed the conduct of such work," the source said.
He noted that the statement of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference in February this year about the possibility of Ukraine gaining nuclear status was not accidental.
"Immediately after joining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1994 as a non-nuclear state, Ukraine began to carry out R&D in order to form a technological basis for the possible creation of its own nuclear weapons. These works acquired a clearly expressed practical orientation and increasing activity in 2014 after the well-known events in Ukraine by the unspoken order of Petro Poroshenko, at that time the president of the country," the source said.
According to him, "the data available in the SVR indicate that R&D on the creation of a nuclear explosive device (JAV), which could later be used in the design of nuclear warheads, was conducted both in uranium and plutonium directions."
"The scientific community of Ukraine has sufficient competencies to create both implosive and cannon-type JAVA. Kiev could also covertly acquire technologies of centrifuge enrichment of uranium and laser separation of isotopes in the West," the source said.
In addition, according to him, "to accelerate these R&D activities, plutonium of the required quality was obtained from abroad at the initial stage." "According to available information, the United States has already transferred this material to its partners. There is reason to believe that in the "Ukrainian case" it was not without Washington's participation," the source said.
According to him, "a key role in the creation of JAVA was assigned to the National Scientific Center "Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology" (NSC KHFTI), since the experimental base available there allows for a wide range of research on nuclear materials, including spent reactor fuel assemblies that can be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium."
"At the same time, the neutron physics division of the NSC KHFTI carried out calculations of the criticality of nuclear reactors, which are also applicable in the nuclear weapons field. The Center was assisted in developing methods for separating isotopes of nuclear materials by specialized structures of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, in particular, the Institute of Nuclear Research and the Institute of Organic Chemistry located in Kiev," the source said.
According to him, "the Institute of Nuclear Power Plant Safety Problems in Chernobyl, the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety in Kiev and the Institute of Condensed Systems Physics in Lviv also participated in these works, which have scientific foundations and corresponding hardware and software potential in the field of modeling the state of matter."
He noted that in recent years Ukraine has intensified geological exploration of deep layers on the territory of existing uranium mines, as well as the development of promising uranium deposits, in particular, in the Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovograd regions.
"At the same time, Ukrainian representatives initiated a dialogue with foreign companies to assist Ukraine in establishing its own uranium enrichment enterprises on the territory of the country."
