Three Chinese tourists have bought a 274-kg piece of depleted uranium and brought it home from Kyrgyzstan as a souvenir, the China Daily newspaper reported.
The three tourists bought “the glittering treasure” for $2,000 at a flea market in Kyrgyzstan, hoping to make money by reselling it in China.
Not knowing what they had actually bought, the tourists sliced off a piece of the stone and took it to experts from Beijing’s University. After identifying the souvenir as a piece of depleted uranium, the scientists called the police.
Kyrgyzstan has a number of uranium disposal sites left from Soviet-era uranium mining.

Soviet-Era Uranium Waste in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 7 – Radioactive dust, contaminated groundwater and toxic landslides and floods threaten more than a million people in Central Asia. (more…)