An Uzbek court has convicted a group of individuals who sought to sell 120 grams of natural uranium, the heavy metal element required in the making of a nuclear bomb.

While the amount they were attempting to sell, at a price of $2,000 per gram, would only make up a tiny fraction of the uranium volume a nuclear bomb maker would need for enrichment, national security officials the world over are wary of such black market sales reaching a frequency that would enable terrorist, or other malign actors, to source the volume of material needed for an atomic weapon from an assortment of sellers. 

The case involved individuals including employees of Navoiyuran and the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company (NMMC), two key players in Uzbekistan’s uranium mining industry. Though the operation to sell the uranium was shut down, officials will be wary that it points to possible gaps in the handling and oversight of radioactive substances in the country’s nuclear sector that could be processed to make weapons-grade material.

Kun.uz reported on the trial held at  Navoi City Criminal Court. 

The fact that the radioactive substance obtained was natural uranium was confirmed by the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Academy of Sciences.

Natural uranium contains approximately 0.7% of the isotope U-235. To build even a simple fission weapon using uranium, a minimum of 15–25 kilograms of highly enriched uranium — containing at least 90% U-235 — would be required. 

Among those sentenced were J.I., a locksmith at Navoiyuran’s Sobirsoy geotechnological mine, and N.U., an employee at NMMC’s Amento Amantau mine.

Court documents revealed that J.I. conspired in September 2024 with another individual to profit from the illegal sale. 

The uranium was passed through multiple intermediaries, eventually reaching two potential buyers — both of whom alerted law enforcement. 

A special operation conducted in October 2024 led to the seizure of the material and the arrest of the defendants.

On April 14, 2025, the court found all five individuals guilty under Article 252, Part 2(b) of the Criminal Code, which prohibits illegal possession of radioactive materials. 

J.I. was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison and barred from working in the uranium industry for two years. 

N.U. received 2.5 years. 

The others — O.M., F.S., and F.T. — received similar sentences. 

On July 24, the Navoi Regional Criminal Court of Appeals upheld the verdict without any changes.

Uzbekistan is one of the world’s top 10 uranium producers and has cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on nuclear safety.