The U.S Energy Department is planning to move tons of weapon-grade uranium and plutonium from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to the Nevada Test Site for security reasons, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 23).

The move would be the first time the United States has transported weapon-grade materials from one site to another to reduce the risk of a potential terrorist attack, according to experts.

“It is the first time that it’s ever been moved for security reasons,” said Peter Stockton, former special assistant to Bill Richardson, energy secretary in the Clinton administration.  “There are multiple tons of plutonium and high enriched uranium, certain other things down there you wouldn’t want a terrorist to get his hands on.”

The Project on Government Oversight, an activist group, has obtained several Energy documents outlining the planned move, according to the Times.  In one document, the director of the Los Alamos facility wrote that the laboratory supports the move as “the best overall decision to meet the post-Sept. 11 challenges for the long-term security of nuclear activities.”

The organization also released a draft of an Energy news release that said an environmental impact statement on the move had been completed and that the Nevada Test Site was the new preferred storage location.  An Energy official said that while the department had not finished the study, “the department is heading in that direction” (Matthew Wald, New York Times, Aug. 12).

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