Audit turns up imprecise nuclear records Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - "Mark Graffis" Audit turns up imprecise nuclear records By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (November 6, 2001 4:40 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. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytenv-11.09.01-13:44:17-24901