J
Joe S.
Guest
Maybe Chertoff needs to spend less time worrying about his gut and start
worrying about serious stuff.
QUOTE
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Government investigators created a bogus company to
obtain a license for radioactive materials that could have been used to
build a dirty bomb, a report CNN has obtained shows.
The report, to be the subject of a Senate hearing Thursday, exposed holes in
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing system, which the NRC says it
has since plugged.
Investigators with the Government Accountability Office altered the license
and took initial steps a terrorist could have used to build a moderate-sized
dirty bomb
Within 28 days, investigators created the bogus company without leaving
their Washington offices and obtained a license to buy equipment containing
nuclear materials. They changed the license to get access to an unrestricted
amount of nuclear material and got commitments from two suppliers for
machines containing radioactive material.
From those machines, enough radioactive material -- americium 241 and cesium
137 -- could have been extracted to create a dirty bomb -- a non-fissile
bomb that nonetheless would create chaos by distributing radioactive
material over an area, congressional staffers said.
"Although we had no legitimate use for the machines, our investigators
received, within days of obtaining a license from NRC, price quotes and
terms of payment that would have allowed us to purchase numerous machines
containing sealed radioactive source materials," the GAO report says.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota, criticized the NRC, saying it "has a
pre-9/11 mind-set in a post-9/11 world --- focusing just on preventing
another Chernobyl. The reality is that terrorists are interested in using a
dirty bomb to wreak havoc in this country."
Coleman said the GAO could have prolonged their effort, "generating dozens
of fake licenses. ... In other words, the amount of radiological materials
involved in the sting was but a demonstration amount, and it could have been
considerably larger and considerably more dangerous."
The NRC said Wednesday the materials involved in the sting were some of the
least dangerous radioactive material but that it has fixed loopholes found
by the GAO investigation.
"The GAO pointed out an area where our process could be improved to
strengthen these protections on the less risky materials," NRC spokesman
Eliot Brenner said. "We moved rapidly to fix this. Now, any new applicant
for a license for these far less dangerous materials will get a visit from
the NRC or have to come to see us and prove their bona fides."
The sort of bomb the GAO could have put together with the devices it could
have bought "would have the radiation equivalent of a CAT scan to the chest
and stomach," Brenner said. "The risk posed by these materials is small, but
we are committed to seeing that they cannot be used by terrorists."
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks the NRC focused on
tightening restrictions regarding the most dangerous nuclear materials, he
said.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/11/nuke.sting/index.html
END QUOTE
worrying about serious stuff.
QUOTE
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Government investigators created a bogus company to
obtain a license for radioactive materials that could have been used to
build a dirty bomb, a report CNN has obtained shows.
The report, to be the subject of a Senate hearing Thursday, exposed holes in
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing system, which the NRC says it
has since plugged.
Investigators with the Government Accountability Office altered the license
and took initial steps a terrorist could have used to build a moderate-sized
dirty bomb
Within 28 days, investigators created the bogus company without leaving
their Washington offices and obtained a license to buy equipment containing
nuclear materials. They changed the license to get access to an unrestricted
amount of nuclear material and got commitments from two suppliers for
machines containing radioactive material.
From those machines, enough radioactive material -- americium 241 and cesium
137 -- could have been extracted to create a dirty bomb -- a non-fissile
bomb that nonetheless would create chaos by distributing radioactive
material over an area, congressional staffers said.
"Although we had no legitimate use for the machines, our investigators
received, within days of obtaining a license from NRC, price quotes and
terms of payment that would have allowed us to purchase numerous machines
containing sealed radioactive source materials," the GAO report says.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota, criticized the NRC, saying it "has a
pre-9/11 mind-set in a post-9/11 world --- focusing just on preventing
another Chernobyl. The reality is that terrorists are interested in using a
dirty bomb to wreak havoc in this country."
Coleman said the GAO could have prolonged their effort, "generating dozens
of fake licenses. ... In other words, the amount of radiological materials
involved in the sting was but a demonstration amount, and it could have been
considerably larger and considerably more dangerous."
The NRC said Wednesday the materials involved in the sting were some of the
least dangerous radioactive material but that it has fixed loopholes found
by the GAO investigation.
"The GAO pointed out an area where our process could be improved to
strengthen these protections on the less risky materials," NRC spokesman
Eliot Brenner said. "We moved rapidly to fix this. Now, any new applicant
for a license for these far less dangerous materials will get a visit from
the NRC or have to come to see us and prove their bona fides."
The sort of bomb the GAO could have put together with the devices it could
have bought "would have the radiation equivalent of a CAT scan to the chest
and stomach," Brenner said. "The risk posed by these materials is small, but
we are committed to seeing that they cannot be used by terrorists."
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks the NRC focused on
tightening restrictions regarding the most dangerous nuclear materials, he
said.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/11/nuke.sting/index.html
END QUOTE
