Audit turns up imprecise nuclear records

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@ICX.NET>]

Audit turns up imprecise nuclear records



By JOHN HEILPRIN

Associated Press



WASHINGTON (November 6, 2001 04:40 p.m. EST) - The Energy

Department and Nuclear Regulatory Commission are not keeping

an accurate inventory of nuclear materials loaned out for

domestic research, government investigators report.



An audit by the Energy Department's inspector general between

April and August found that 119 locations handling government-owned

enriched uranium, plutonium and other nuclear materials had

returned more to the department than had been loaned out

or leased.



While finding no evidence of nuclear materials being diverted

or misused, the government's inaccurate records could undermine

its ability to detect stolen or lost materials, said Gregory

H. Friedman, the department's inspector general.



The records entered into a federal electronic database run

by the Energy Department and the NRC "are not logical and

almost certainly incorrect," said Friedman in the Oct. 26

report, released this week.



He warned that a proper inventory must be done if the government

is to keep "the strictest possible control over materials

that could, in the wrong hands, threaten national security."



The report showed an excess of 4.2 million kilograms of depleted

uranium, 1.3 million grams of enriched uranium and 2,500

grams of plutonium in the department's inventory.



Some of the record-keeping problems were found as early as

1994 but the department did not try to correct them until

this year, the audit says.



"The department did not provide adequate oversight of the

system," Friedman said in his report to Energy Secretary

Spencer Abraham. He added that the department should not

assume that the public is protected until all records have

been explained and corrected.



Security officials within the department also told auditors

that it was "unlikely" more material had been returned than

was loaned or leased, the audit says. Those officials said

a more probable explanation was that the wrong ownership

codes were entered into the records when the radioactive

materials were transferred to another location.



Other inaccuracies included records showing "a significant

quantity" of plutonium existed at two facilities, despite

NRC officials saying those facilities had not held plutonium

for years. Officials said one facility had not housed plutonium

since 1996 and the other facility likewise had no plutonium

since its license had expired in 1993.



To its credit, the Energy Department had accounted for all

2,500 grams of plutonium by September, five months after

being notified of a problem, the audit says. Security officials

believe the plutonium was washed away during decontamination

and decommissioning of the facilities, the audit says, though

there was no documentation at the time of the audit to show

what happened to the material.



The department's security and emergency operations director,

Joseph S. Mahaley, said he had met with NRC officials in

mid-October to begin accounting for all the loaned or leased

inventories of department-owned nuclear materials. The NRC

licenses the research institutions.

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You can find this story on the web at:

http://www.nandotimes.com/healthscience/story/165244p-1578930c.html



-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

Please visit our Web site - http://www.local-oversight.org

.....................................................

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