Reporting from Sunnyvale — The four-man government disposal team arrived Monday from Los Alamos, N.M., to take away the small canister of plutonium. Weighing just 1.3 grams, the plutonium-238 isotope had been owned by a Silicon Valley company for nearly 30 years and was stored safely in a 10-foot hole in the ground.
But in the wrong hands, federal officials say, the highly radioactive isotope could pose a serious threat to public safety and conceivably provide terrorists with material for a dirty bomb.
The crew from the little-known National Nuclear Security Administration pulled the plutonium up by a rope, examined it to identify its origin and placed it into a specially lined barrel. The operation took only a few minutes, but federal officials were satisfied that they had eliminated a threat to national safety.
Radioactive materials are used widely in hospitals, oil fields, manufacturing and research centers across countries. The isotope removed Monday is less dangerous than plutonium-239, which can be used in nuclear bombs, and emits a less potent radiation that can easily be shielded. But it is highly hazardous if inhaled or ingested.
The agency works in more than 130 countries to recover nuclear materials. It has collected more than 20,600 dangerous sources of radiation in the United States since the program began 12 years ago. But the agency is barely able to stay even. Between 2,500 and 3,000 radiological sources are registered each year as unwanted. Last year, the agency’s teams recovered 3,153, the largest number yet. It has a backlog of 8,800 known items. Some officials estimate that there may be tens of thousands of other radioactive sources that the agency has not identified.
The plutonium in question was purchased in 1981 by a Silicon Valley company that develops radiation testing devices. Contained in a steel canister slightly larger than a D-cell battery, the plutonium had a strength of 22 curies when it was new. With a half-life of 86 years, it now measures 18.3 curies.
The Sunnyvale firm was not required to pay a fee for the removal operation. The government believes the cost of a nuclear disaster could be far greater than the $15-million annual expense of the national recovery program, agency officials say. Although a bomb made with a small amount of plutonium-238 might not kill anyone outright, it could cause long-term health effects and require the lengthy closure of the area as it is cleaned of radioactive material.
– from latimes