URANIUM LOST
Enough For Six Bombs (N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) WASHINGTON, Sept. 18. The United States Atomic Energy Commission recently discovered that one of its industrial contractors had lost enough highly enriched uranium to fabricate six atomic bombs. An extensive investigation concluded that the fissionable material had been lost in the normal process of fabricating reactor fuel rods and had not been diverted clandestinely into the manufacture of atomic weapons. The discovery of the mil-lion-dollar loss so disturbed the commission that it has begun to strengthen its controls to ensure that some of the fissionable materials in the hands of domestic and foreign companies are not stolen. The lost 100 kilograms of uranium, was not all together, or even in substantial pieces. It had literally been scattered to the winds, the seas and the cemeteries.
In a period of six years some was lost as»scrap during the machine tooling and swept up and buried; some disappeared as dust caught on filters; and some presumably was washed down drains and carried away to the oceans.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19660919.2.139
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31168, 19 September 1966, Page 17
Word Count
173URANIUM LOST Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31168, 19 September 1966, Page 17
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.