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U.S. NEWS Saturday 5 May 2018

Idaho school can't find small bit

of weapons-grade plutonium

By KEITH RIDLER Idaho National Laboratory, plutonium.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A considered the nation's pri- The nuclear commission
small amount of radioac- mary nuclear research lab said senior university offi-
tive, weapons-grade plu- and located about 65 miles cials planned to return the
tonium about the size of a (105 kilometers) northwest school's remaining pluto-
U.S. quarter is missing from of the school. nium to the Energy Depart-
an Idaho university that The plutonium was being ment. It's not clear if that
was using it for research, used to develop ways to has happened.
leading federal officials on ensure nuclear waste con- Energy Department offi- In this May 11, 2015, file photo, nuclear waste is stored in under-
Friday to propose an $8,500 tainers weren't leaking and cials didn't return calls seek- ground containers at the Idaho Nation.
fine. to find ways to detect ra- ing comment Friday.q Associated Press
The U.S. Nuclear Regula- dioactive material being il-
tory Commission said Idaho legally brought into the U.S.
State University can't ac- following the Sept. 11, 2001,
count for about a 30th of terrorist attacks, the school
an ounce (1 gram) of the said in an email to the AP.
material that's used in nu- The university, which has
clear reactors and to make 30 days to dispute the pro-
nuclear bombs. posed fine, reported the
The amount is too small to plutonium missing on Oct.
make a nuclear bomb, 13, according to docu-
agency spokesman Victor ments released by the
Dricks said, but could be Nuclear Regulatory Com-
used to make a dirty bomb mission. The agency said
to spread radioactive con- a school employee doing
tamination. a routine inventory discov-
"The NRC has very rigorous ered the university could
controls for the use and only account for 13 of its
storage of radioactive ma- 14 plutonium sources, each
terials as evidenced by this weighing about the same
enforcement action," he small amount.
said of the proposed fine The school searched docu-
for failing to keep track of ments and found records
the material. from 2003 and 2004 saying
Dr. Cornelis Van der Schyf, the material was on cam-
vice president for research pus and awaiting disposal.
at the university, blamed However, there were no
partially completed paper- documents saying the plu-
work from 15 years ago as tonium had been properly
the school tried to dispose disposed.
of the plutonium. The last document men-
"Unfortunately, because tioning the plutonium is
there was a lack of suffi- dated Nov. 23, 2003. It said
cient historical records to the Idaho National Labo-
demonstrate the disposal ratory didn't want the plu-
pathway employed in tonium and the school's
2003, the source in question technical safety office had
had to be listed as missing," it "pending disposal of the
he said in a statement to next waste shipment."
The Associated Press. "The The school also reviewed
radioactive source in ques- documents on waste bar-
tion poses no direct health rels there and others trans-
issue or risk to public safety." ferred off campus since
Idaho State University has 2003, and opened and ex-
a nuclear engineering pro- amined some of them. Fi-
gram and works with the nally, officials searched the
U.S. Department of Energy's campus but didn't find the