[ RadSafe ] Minute amount of enriched uranium missing

[George Stanford]

The story about the missing 1.7 mg of uranium
made my day -- the ludicrous over-reaction by
officialdom and the Associated Press.  The
missing uranium was completely harmless,
obviously -- enough to make speck about
15 mils in diameter (less than 1/2 mm)..

Number of such "neutron-detecting devices" you'd
need to collect to make a bomb?  At least 10 million
-- and much more if the enrichment is not 100%,

Well, I guess the Associated Press is correct -- 1.7
milligrams is definitely not enough to make a bomb.

But it must have been a really, really slow news day.

And they slighted the real story -- the preposterous
news that officials ordered a "thorough investigation"
and even sent inspectors.

Thanks for the day-brightener.

         George Stanford
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At 07:40 PM 6/24/2005, Sandy Perle wrote:

Minute amount of enriched uranium missing from nuclear power plant in
Japan

TOKYO (AP) - A small amount of enriched uranium - not enough to make
a bomb - has gone missing from a nuclear power plant in central
Japan, the Science Ministry said Friday.

Officials have been unable to locate a neutron-detecting device
containing 1.7 milligrams of enriched uranium at the No. 3 reactor at
Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture (state) about 320
kilometers (200 miles) west of Tokyo, the ministry said in a
statement.

The amount missing is too small to make a bomb, a ministry official
said on condition of anonymity.

The missing uranium is not radioactive enough to pose a threat to
humans, the official said.

The device, used to measure the level of neutrons in the reactor, was
found to be missing Friday afternoon during an inspection of the
nuclear fuel inventory at the plant, which is operated by Kansai
Electric Power Co.

The whereabouts of the uranium was last confirmed on July 6, 2004,
during a previous inspection of the plant's inventory, the statement
said.

Officials have ordered Kansai Electric to conduct a thorough
investigation and were set to send ministry inspectors to the plant
on Saturday, the ministry said.

Another plant run by Kansai Electric, also in Fukui, was the scene of
Japan's deadliest-ever nuclear-plant accident last August.

In that incident, a corroded cooling pipe carrying boiling water and
superheated steam burst at a plant in nearby Mihama, killing five
workers. No radiation was released in that accident.

Kansai Electric later admitted that the pipe had not been inspected
since 1996. It is being investigated on suspicion of negligence
leading to death.

The government has been eager to push nuclear power to meet the
energy needs of resource-poor Japan, but public trust has been deeply
shaken by a series of safety violations, reactor malfunctions and
accidents in the nuclear energy industry.

Japan's 52 nuclear reactors supply 35 percent of the country's
electricity. The government wants to build 11 new plants and raised
electricity output to nearly 40 percent of the national supply by
2010.

Fukui lies about 323 kilometers (202 miles) west of Tokyo.
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