An Energy Department laboratory in Tennessee lost a significant amount of radioactive tritium in a test shipment between lab buildings, raising the possibility of foul play, government records show.
Ironically, the secret test was done as part of an internal investigation into troubling discrepancies in the amount of tritium shipped from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tenn., to commercial buyers in recent years.Tritium supplies are classified by the government. The material is produced in Energy Department reactors in South Carolina for use in nuclear warheads, although small amounts are sold to domestic and foreign companies. Commercial uses include the manufacture of luminous lights and biological and energy research.
No acceptable explanation could be found for the tritium lost in the test shipment last year, according to an Oak Ridge report released Wednesday by the Energy Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press.
The report, dated July 20, raised the possibility of theft but said this could not be substantiated.
Jim Alexander, an Oak Ridge spokesman, said Wednesday he did not know whether the tritium in the test shipment has been recovered. He said efforts to resolve the discrepancies in commercial shipments dating back to 1985 were continuing.
Based on information in the Oak Ridge investigation report, it appeared about 2 grams of tritium were lost in the shipment between lab buildings. That is about half the amount used in a single nuclear warhead, according to private analysts.
The lab is operated by Martin Marietta Energy Systems Inc. under an Energy Department contract.
Commercial shipments from Oak Ridge were suspended in July while a joint team of experts from the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted an investigation. This group reported on July 28 that it could not explain the discrepancies in the commercial shipments, which amounted to about 5 grams.
In August the department said it was resuming most shipments and that it was reasonably sure the missing tritium had not been diverted to making illicit nuclear weapons.
The 2 grams of tritium lost in the test shipments was in addition to the 5 grams missing from commercial sales.