skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump's emerging team of loyalists is primed for a fast start in his second term; GA activist focuses on zoning violations to advocate for environmental health; Federal tax credits help clinics expand in low-income IL communities; Experts say antibiotic resistance is growing in VT due to 'superbugs.'

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Immigrant rights groups and librarians react to Trump's win. The President-elect names philosophical allies and deregulators to White House positions and Democrats wonder how they can fight Trump policies, given the GOP's congressional majority.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Texas women travel some of the longest distances for abortion care, Californians the shortest, rural living comes with mixed blessings for veterans, an ancient technique could curtail climate-change wildfires, and escape divisive politics on World Kindness Day.

Stolen Nuclear Material Exposes Larger Issue of Government Accountability

play audio
Play

Monday, July 30, 2018   

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – In 2017, security experts from the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory had a small amount of nuclear material stolen from their rental car while retrieving it in Texas.

The plutonium and cesium, materials used to make a nuclear bomb, were taken while the two specialists slept in a San Antonio hotel. The material hasn't been found.

The Department of Energy says it was a negligible amount – much less radioactive than a smoke detector, in fact.

But Patrick Malone, who first covered the story for the Center for Public Integrity, says this isn't an isolated incident.

"The more important fact here that we were trying to get at is how little accountability there is when the government loses nuclear materials relative to civilian materials that are lost, which are regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as opposed to the Department of Energy," Malone states.

An Energy Department representative says Idaho laboratory personnel reported the San Antonio incident immediately to the agency. It adds that local law enforcement is looking for the material, which is about the size of a dime, and that the public was never at risk.

However, Malone says the government rarely discloses incidents where it loses nuclear material and that there's no firm number for how much nuclear material is unaccounted for.

The closest estimate Malone says he can find is a 2009 report from the Energy Department's Inspector General.

"In that report, they identified at least five nuclear-warheads' worth of highly enriched uranium and plutonium alone that on paper was listed as safely stored and protected by the Department of Energy that could not be found,” he relates. “I mean, it's missing."

Malone says the material tends to go missing in small amounts, getting caught in national laboratories' ductwork, classified as waste and disposed of without being inventoried or diverted in some unclear way.

Malone notes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission closely regulates civilian stocks and recently fined Idaho State University $8,500 for losing an amount of plutonium comparable to that lost in San Antonio.

However, Malone says in the U.S. government's case, the Energy Department awarded the contractor that lost the material in San Antonio 97 percent of available bonuses at the end of 2017.

"As far as the Department of Energy is concerned, there was no enforcement action, there was no fine against this contractor, and they basically handed this contractor almost every single dime that they possibly could have gotten for their performance in 2017," Malone states.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Nearly half of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency budget goes into grants to state environmental programs, nonprofits, educational institutions and others. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Florida environmental advocates are concerned about the future after President-elect Donald Trump named former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin to lead…


play sound

As President-elect Donald Trump announces immigration hard-liners as his deputy chief of staff and border czar this week, groups supporting …

Health and Wellness

play sound

It is now up to Wisconsin Supreme Court justices to decide the fate of an abortion law from the mid-1800s. A circuit court determined last year an 18…


Someone becomes homeless in the United States every 40 minutes. (Pixel-Shot/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The faith-based nonprofit Our Calling is working with unsheltered clients in north Texas to create a long-term exit plan to help them rebuild their li…

Environment

play sound

The hills and hollers of Virginia are no strangers to hardship, but few were prepared for the devastation Hurricane Helene would bring. Six weeks …

Colorado has been working to remove cost as a barrier for students, and many certificate and degree programs are zero-tuition. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Gov. Jared Polis has designated seven Colorado colleges and universities as Career Connected Campuses for their work getting more students from all …

Social Issues

play sound

With Thanksgiving just over two weeks away, will Michiganders and shoppers across the country face sticker shock at the grocery store while planning …

Social Issues

play sound

As winter break approaches, Alabama's Summer Adventures in Learning program is encouraging parents to think ahead to summer, particularly as quality …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021