Plutonium missing from Los Alamos lab (2 Grams)

Interestalert ^ | 6/18/03

[areafiftyone]

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., June 18 (UPI) -- The Project on Goverment Oversight quotes sources as saying about 2 grams of plutonium is missing from the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The plutonium has been missing since 2001, but was only reported last week to Department of Energy officials responsible for overseeing the lab. DOE requires any missing weapons-grade nuclear material of a half-gram or more be reported.

POGO said the fact the missing material was not reported is a violation of department policy and raises serious questions about the level of confidence in the DOE's Material Control and Accountability System that tracks hundreds of tons of weapons grade nuclear material.

A former DOE official advised POGO even small quantities of missing plutonium are a potential threat to public health and safety and are taken very seriously.

[Poohbah]

Check behind the copier.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Heads up, Bill Richardson!

[MEG33]

Los Alamos in the news!

[TomGuy]

hahaha My first thought, exactly.

[Calpernia]

>>>The plutonium has been missing since 2001, but was only reported last week to Department of Energy officials responsible for overseeing the lab. DOE requires any missing weapons-grade nuclear material of a half-gram or more be reported.

Oh, that is nice.

[Frank_Discussion]

"Heads up, Bill Richardson!"

What an image... [shudder]...

[Frank_Discussion]

LAUGH TO KEEP FROM CRYING BUMP!

[BluH2o]

Heads up, Bill Richardson!

Richardson had been put in charge of Los Alamos by Bubba back in 2001 ... now he's the governor of New Mexico. Authorities only have a short drive to Sante Fe to visit Bill.

[theDentist]

Odds are it'll show up on a coffee table in the Clinton home some years from now.

[Frank_Discussion]

New Coke?

[areafiftyone]

Could explain why Clinton's nose is so red. He's been snorting the stuff for years now!

[Calpernia]

Does anyone have any idea of what can be done with 2 grams of Plutonium?

Is this actually 'series' and 'hugh'?

I do know the lack of reporting is. But how about the material?

[Frank_Discussion]

Pretty decent dirty bomb by itself, better than a radioactive medical waste loaded one.

[Frank_Discussion]

better = more effective and toxic

(Did NOT mean better. By no means does it qualify as BETTER.)

[Calpernia]

LOL, I understood!

More than one bomb? And are we speaking of a bomb that would toxicate an entire acreage?

[mewzilla]

Wouldn't have to make anyone actually sick. It could easily scare the heck out of enough people to do some serious economic damage depending on where it was set off.

[Frank_Discussion]

If properly done, it would hurt more people than the garden-variety cesium source stuff, but would still be a rather small blast radius.

[Calpernia]

I don't know. I think at this point most people have hardened. I think if another major event happened, many armed with torches and pitch forks would be storming Islamic Centers.