Red Mercury, USS Indianapolis, Vela, and the Flashes: How a Nuclear Arsenal Was Concealed

On 6 March 1992, the Washington Post reported that dealers in Eastern Europe were offering a substance called "red mercury". The asking price was about $200,000 for a few pounds. They said it had been smuggled out of Soviet weapons stores. They said it could make a nuclear bomb smaller, or turn an ordinary device into an extremely powerful weapon. Police in Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Italy opened raids. The FBI and Interpol were also alerted.

When the police seized the bottles, many held ordinary mercury tinted red. Some sellers even painted the vial with red nail polish. The IAEA said the red mercury claims had no technical merit. Even so, the name sent people into transactions with cash and forged paperwork. They traded on stories about Soviet stockpiles.