Embattled New Mexico Lab Searches for Missing Plutonium

Wednesday, June 18, 2003

By Susan Montoya Bryan

Associated Press Writer

The material was most likely discarded as residue, with the glass vials placed in a drum, and a coding error made in the laboratory's inventory system.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- AP
Los Alamos National Laboratory said Wednesday that it has lost track of two tiny glass containers of plutonium oxide and believes the radioactive material was thrown out.

The lab, which has come under criticism for financial and inventory control problems, said the material could not be used to make weapons, and apparently was discarded with other radioactive waste without being properly logged.

"This material has scientific and analytical research value, but is in a low hazard and threat category," lab director Pete Nanos said.

The Project on Government Oversight, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, had reported that the material was weapons-grade and could threaten public health and safety.

The vials contained plutonium oxide that had been mixed with inert elements as part of an experiment related to long-term storage methods of radioactive material.
(More: Tri-CityHerald.com)
2003 © The Associated Press.

Not exactly an "earth-shattering" piece, so I just dropped it here in Off-Topic rather than Current Events,

Dan