Japan 'loses' 206kg of plutonium

[John Lindsey]

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1042491288304

Japan on Tuesday admitted that 206kg of its plutonium - enough to make about 25 nuclear bombs - is unaccounted for.


Government scientists said that 6,890kg of plutonium had been extracted since 1977 from spent nuclear fuel at a processing plant about 120km north east of Tokyo. But that is 3 per cent short of the amount the plant was estimated to have produced.

About 5kg to 8kg of plutonium are needed to make a 20-kiloton atomic bomb similar to the one that destroyed Nagasaki in 1945.

Experts said the missing amount was surprisingly large.

[Joseph Svinth]

I wonder if the Prez will be declaring war on Japan soon?

[PRehse]

The question is how. I work with Uranium isotops in real small amounts and the controls here in Japan are downright anal.

[renfield_kuroda]

The answer is: general bureaucratic incompetence. While there are pockets of actual efficiency and intelligence, as a whole most structure in Japan is tons and tons of paperwork, but no actual checks and balanaces. For example, most of the forms the goverment requires rarely get read, compiled, referenced, or used after getting initially stamped and approved.

Regards,
renfield kuroda

[Joseph Svinth]

Well, the USA officially admits to 11 missing nuclear weapons, so what's a few pounds of plutonium? (Unless, of course, you are Iraqi.)

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa081600a.htm

I mean, look at Hanford, which not too long ago discovered 62 lbs of plutonium they'd forgotten about. http://www.nuclearactive.org/news/042398.html

Seems the USA comes up missing nuclear stuff every other day or so, and Newsweek says that the US has lost track of about 5,000 pounds of the stuff. http://infomanage.com/nonproliferation/news/1999/newsweek%20u_s_%20nuclear%20facilities%20have%20lost%20track%20of%20more%20than%205,000%20pounds%20o f%20plutonium,%20fail%20sophisticated%20computer%20security%20p.htm

However, the former Soviet Union is reportedly even laxer. http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/nuke-weapons/nonproliferation/24099.html

Sleep tight tonight -- your nuclear security guards are.