Antinuclear

Investigators prove how easy it is to get “dirty bomb’ nuclear material

Investigators Fool U.S. Nuke Agency Into Providing Material for ‘Dirty Bomb’
Nuclear Regulatory Committee granted license for key materials to dummy corporation, Washington Free Beacon  BY: Adam Kredo  July 15, 2016

Undercover inspectors working for the U.S. Government Accountability Office were able to fool the United States’ top nuclear regulator into granting it licenses to acquire material necessary to build a “dirty bomb,” or crude nuclear device, according to a newoversight report.

The GAO concluded in a new oversight report on the Nuclear Regulatory Committee, or NRC, that it had improved security measures, but still has “not taken some measures to better control some dangerous quantities of radioactive material.”

As part of a covert GAO test, the accountability agency established several dummy corporations and attempted to procure licenses needed to purchase dangerous radioactive materials, including those needed to build a crude nuclear explosive device.

The accountability agency did not take steps to make it appear as if these dummy corporations were legitimate businesses, according to the report, which showed that the NRC granted a license to the fake organization in one of three test cases.

In each case, the GAO attempted to acquire the licenses needed to purchase increasingly dangerous radioactive materials, the most dangerous of which are known as category 1 materials. The least dangerous materials are dubbed category 3, but all are classifications that include hazardous nuclear substances coveted by terror groups and other criminal outfits……..

The findings are particularly concerning as GAO “made no attempt to outfit the [fake business] site to make it appear as if a legitimate business was operating there.”

The NRC handed a paper license to an undercover GAO operator during the undercover operation.

“Our application was approved and the paper license was handed to our GAO investigator posing as a representative of our fictitious company at the end of the prelicensing site visit,” according to the report.

The NRC also believed several lies by these undercover inspectors.

“During the application process and site visit, the regulatory official accepted our written and oral assurances of the steps that our fictitious company would take—to construct facilities, establish safety procedures, hire sufficient qualified staff, and construct secure storage areas—after receiving a license,” the report states.

“The official from the regulatory body accepted our assurances without scrutinizing key aspects of our fictitious business to the extent that the other regulatory bodies had,” the report adds.

The GAO was ultimately able to use this license to get commitments to obtain enough category 3 materials to reach a category 2 quantity of radioactive material, which the GAO says is an attractive source for use in building a dirty bomb…….http://freebeacon.com/national-security/investigators-fools-u-s-nuke-agency-providing-material-dirty-bomb/

July 18, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized