600 lbs. of Plutonium may be missing from Los Alamos (hmm)

[DemInDistress]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/30/BAGGQFVT7J1.DTL
LOS ALAMOS
Plutonium could be missing from lab
600-plus pounds unaccounted for, activist group say..


Enough plutonium to make dozens of nuclear bombs hasn't been accounted for at the UC-run Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and may be missing, an activist group says in a new report.

There is no evidence that the weapons-grade plutonium has been stolen or diverted for illegal purposes, the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research said. However, the amount of unaccounted-for plutonium -- more than 600 pounds, and possibly several times that -- is so great that it raises "a vast security issue," the group said in a report to be made public today.


Which major American City gets nuked in 06'?

[fooj]

1. Shit.

Wonder how that went missing?:banghead: Rat bastards!

Peace.

[Broken_Hero]

2. shit, my bad...it was me....

i got 600lbs of the stuff right in my garage, i stole it...sorry, i will return it tomorrow, for sure...:) just kidding...:)

[niyad]

3. and they just now noticed?

[lpbk2713]

4. It's being planted in Iraq

And will be "discovered" as WMD's around election time.

[Catrina]

5. This is not the first problem with stuff disappearing from

Los Alamos. I remember something else disappearing last year.

Mmmm, maybe they should look in Iraq?

[EuroObserver]

14. Plenty of whistles blowing, who's listening?

The whole Los Alamos situation grows increasingly disturbing.

See eg. Getting Beaten For Being A Whistle Blower and Los Alamos whistle blower hospitalised in attack;
Procurement and Property Mismanagement and Theft at Los Alamos National Laboratory;
Pity Los Alamos' Whistle-Blowers;

and/or just google "los alamos whistle".

[lovuian]

6. This is sooo bad Cheney is a mad man!!!

:nuke: I agree and it makes so much sense the destruction of Brewster & Jennings!!!

[punpirate]

7. This is most likely an accounting matter...

... and little more. Los Alamos has lots of material in the form of small turnings in machining oil stored all over the site over the past sixty years that hasn't been reprocessed because it's mixed waste. Area G, which is up on a high mesa behind the lab, is loaded with barrels of the stuff.

The same charges were made of Rocky Flats years ago, and then it was discovered that there were likely several hundred pounds of plutonium dust distributed in the air ducts in and around the production facilities and that a significant amount of additional dust had been taken off-site by winds. It was effectively spread out over thousands of acres.

This is a very small amount compared to what was produced over the years. By 1960, the US had something like 78,000 nuclear weapons in the inventory. Even a small manufacturing loss by that time would have been thousands of pounds.

Try not to fret. They should definitely make a better effort to pin down the nature of the discrepancy, but it shouldn't be a cause for immediate alarm.

[wellst0nev0ter]

11. I'm Sure Jeff Gerth And The NYT Will Be On The Case

And the Republican leadership will be all over the president for selling us out to the Chi-coms :eyes: :sarcasm:

[punpirate]

12. Yeah, but only if...

... he can also go after Wen Ho Lee again. :)

[Theduckno2]

8. Although this is worrisome news,

Does this mean that Bush will make a video of himself looking for the plutonium in the Oval Office and show it at the next Gridiron Dinner?

"No, none here."

Seriously though, it seems as though an immediate audit needs to be done, if these allegations have any credibility.

[Beam Me Up]

9. Everybody's got one, I want mine.

:nuke:

[GrpCaptMandrake]

10. Prophecy moment

"It's all Bill Clinton's Fault!"

I had a full-blown thing to write, but the first line just gags me, because I expect it to be declared on wingnut radio in the next day or so. Damn, but I loathe the wingnuts!

[ForrestGump]

13. Doc needed it to generate sufficient jigawatts of power to get back

to the future.

[Crayson]

17. Nah... he upgraded his reactor and uses bio fuel now!

^_^

[lvx35]

15. That's enought for like 20 bombs I think

depending on how big. But come on...Why is it that something huge disappears from this place every month? I don't buy it.

[annabanana]

16. aw jeez!

Boy I HOPE it's a clerical error...That's a pretty big motza ball hanging out there...