The Litvinenko Inquiry

The Litvinenko Inquiry
“In my view, there is a different and entirely independent reason why it is extremely
unlikely that the Po-210 used to poison Mr Litvinenko was obtained by extraction
from such devices. When these devices are manufactured, the Po-210 is bonded
to a substrate, as Prof Dombey describes. Whilst it is possible that Po-210 could be
extracted there is also the possibility of cross-contamination from impurities. Such
impurities would be detectable on analysis. However, the Po-210 used to poison
Mr Litvinenko was of extremely high purity, and I think that this fact excludes the
possibility that it was extracted from such devices.”
9.101 Having excluded these two possible sources, Professor Dombey and A1 were agreed
that the polonium 210 that was used to kill Mr Litvinenko must have been obtained
directly from a supply manufactured in a reactor through the process (that I have
described above) of irradiating bismuth. Professor Dombey added that since the
polonium 210 in question must have been soluble, it must have been transported, “in
metallic form, or something similar”. 38
9.102 A1 and Professor Dombey took different views, however, regarding the type of reactor
in which the polonium 210 at issue in this case must or could have been produced. It
is to that question that I now turn.
Which reactor(s) could have been used to produce the polonium 210?
9.103 As I have indicated above, at the time that he gave oral evidence to the Inquiry, it
appeared to be Professor Dombey’s analysis that the only place where the polonium
210 that was used to kill Mr Litvinenko could have been produced was at the Mayak
and Avangard facilities in Russia.
9.104 The starting point for Professor Dombey’s argument was his contention that, as a
matter of fact, the Avangard programme was the only commercial producer of polonium
210 in the world. Beyond that, he argued that the Lyudmila reactor at Mayak was one
of only a handful of reactors worldwide that were sufficiently powerful to irradiate
the quantities of bismuth 209 needed to produce the 50 micrograms (or, more likely,
more) of polonium 210 involved here.
9.105 Professor Dombey listed the other high power reactors – located in places such as
the UK, Canada and India – and gave evidence that these reactors were not used to
produce polonium 210. He supported this evidence with documentary evidence to a
similar effect. Professor Dombey accepted that less powerful research reactors could
be used to irradiate bismuth and thereby make polonium 210, but he said that these
reactors were limited to making far smaller amounts of polonium 210 than the 50
microgram quantity in play here.
9.106 This led him to the conclusion that the polonium that was used to kill Mr Litvinenko
must have been produced at the Avangard programme.
9.107 A1 took issue with this analysis. She accepted (more accurately, she said she had no
reason to doubt) that the Avangard programme was the only commercial producer of
polonium 210 in the world. She did not agree, however, that the reactors on Professor
Dombey’s list of high power reactors were the only reactors capable of producing a
quantity of 50 micrograms of polonium 210. In fact, A1 contended that the characteristic
of a reactor that was of most relevance to its use for the production of polonium 210
38
Dombey 23/54
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