Security

Uzbekistan receives more than $1 million in US counter-nuclear-smuggling equipment

The equipment will boost Uzbek customs officers' ability to thwart nuclear smuggling and train personnel.

By Caravanserai

2022-02-01

The US Department of Energy gave Uzbekistan five mobile radiation detection systems valued at more than $1 million. They are meant to boost Uzbek ability to prevent smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials. US and Uzbek officials are shown in Tashkent in front of the donated equipment. [US Embassy in Uzbekistan]

TASHKENT -- Uzbek borders will be safer from nuclear smuggling after a US donation of counter-smuggling equipment, the US embassy said in a statement Friday (January 28).

The United States donated the gear to the Uzbek State Customs Committee (SCC) in a virtual handover ceremony last week.

In December, the United States transferred similar equipment to Tajikistan.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) transferred five mobile radiation detection systems worth more than $1 million to the SCC. The systems will bolster the SCC's ability to thwart smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials across Uzbek borders.

Unidentified US and Uzbek officials shake hands in Tashkent during the handover of US counter-nuclear-smuggling equipment. [US Embassy in Uzbekistan]

The DOE and the US Department of State (DOS) additionally gave the SCC a new suite of video teleconferencing and interpretation equipment.

It will modernise the SCC's virtual training and workshops with foreign partners and remote personnel nationwide.

The equipment transfer is part of a long-term multi-billion-dollar effort by the US government to enable partner countries to defeat nuclear smuggling.

$36 million in counter-smuggling, counter-WMD aid

The US government has invested more than $16 million so far to build counter-nuclear-smuggling capacity in Uzbekistan.

Two weeks ago, the DOE and the Uzbek Emergency Situations Ministry co-hosted a workshop on improving the Uzbek inter-agency response to a nuclear smuggling event.

Another programme, administered by the DOS, has donated more than $20 million in equipment and training to Uzbekistan since 2000. That programme helps partner countries address "the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction [WMDs], their delivery systems, related technologies, and other weapons", said the embassy.