In the United States have lost weapons-grade plutonium

In the United States have lost weapons-grade plutonium

The employees of the State University of Idaho, the US has lost a piece of weapons-grade plutonium, which was in their custody.

MOSCOW, 5 may — RIA Novosti. It is reported by Live Science, citing a statement by the nuclear regulatory Commission.

Last accounting of radioactive substances was conducted at the University in 2004. Then 14 adenohromovykh pieces of plutonium-239 Packed in protective cases for subsequent burial. After that, the record of plutonium removed from the database, which the University shall maintain for the nuclear regulatory Commission. Then where did the piece is unknown — in the report it doesn’t appear. At the moment there is no information about whether he was disposed of.

The press-Secretary of the nuclear regulatory Commission USA Victor Dricks admitted that he could not confirm that the lost plutonium poses no threat, however, suggested that the cause of “loss” is an error in the records.

“We suspect that the piece ended up at the landfill for radioactive materials,” said Drix.

However, the Commission proposes to impose a fine on the University in the amount of $ 8,500, as the staff was negligent and did not keep accurate records of licensed radioactive materials provided to them for safekeeping.

One gram of plutonium-239 sufficient to produce a nuclear bomb, but it’s enough to create a radioactive dirty bomb basis, the article says.

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