Secret GAO Report: US Investigations of Israeli Weapons Grade Uranium Diversions 'Inadequate'

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Secret GAO Report: US Investigations of Israeli Weapons Grade Uranium Diversions 'Inadequate'

WASHINGTON, May 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A declassified Government Accountability Office report entitled "Nuclear Diversion in the U.S.? 13 Years of Contradiction and Confusion" reveals serious flaws hampering investigations into diversions of US weapons grade uranium to Israel. The report and related correspondence totaling 62 pages released on May 6, 2010 are now publicly available for download at: http://www.irmep.org/co1162251.pdf.

The report examines the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) between 1957 and 1967 when it received over 22 tons of Uranium-235 -- the key material used to fabricate nuclear weapons. NUMEC's founder and President Zalman M. Shapiro was a sales agent for the Defense Ministry of Israel in the US and head of a local Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) chapter. In the early 1960s the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) began documenting suspicious lapses in security at NUMEC's plant in Apollo, Pennsylvania. In 1965 an AEC audit found NUMEC could no longer account for over 200 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Subsequent estimates spiraled to almost 600 pounds.

Congress tasked GAO to investigate four allegations about what happened to the uranium. The first was that "the material was illegally diverted to Israel by NUMEC management for use in nuclear weapons." The second was "the material was diverted to Israel by NUMEC management with the assistance of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)." The final two theories explored by GAO were that "the material was diverted to Israel with the acquiescence of the United States Government" and that "there has been a cover-up of the NUMEC incident by the United States Government."

GAO solicited all available information developed by the CIA, FBI, Department of Energy and AEC but was "continually denied necessary reports and documentation…by the CIA and FBI." The GAO report blasts the FBI's intermittent investigations: "The FBI, which had the responsibility and authority to investigate the alleged incident, did not focus on the question of a possible nuclear diversion until May 1976 -- nearly 11 years later. Initially, the FBI declined DOE's request to conduct an investigation of the diversion possibility even though they are required to conduct such investigations under the Atomic Energy Act…"

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Atomic_Energy_Commission

The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S. Truman signed the McMahon/Atomic Energy Act on August 1, 1946, transferring the control of atomic energy from military to civilian hands, effective from January 1, 1947. The agency was abolished by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, which assigned its functions to two new agencies: the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.<1>
Contents

* 1 History
* 2 AEC Chairperson
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 Further reading
* 6 External links

History

The formation of the AEC reflected America's postwar optimism, with Congress declaring that atomic energy should be employed not only in the form of nuclear weapons for the nation's defense, but also to promote world peace, improve the public welfare and strengthen free competition in private enterprise. The signing was the culmination of long months of intensive debate among politicians, military planners and atomic scientists over the fate of this new energy source. President Truman appointed David Lilienthal as the first Chairman of the AEC.

Congress gave the new civilian Commission extraordinary power and independence to carry out its mission. To provide the Commission exceptional freedom in hiring scientists and professionals, Commission employees were exempt from the Civil Service system. Because of the need for great security, all production facilities and nuclear reactors would be government-owned, while all technical information and research results would be under Commission control. The National Laboratory system was established from the facilities created under the Manhattan Project. Argonne National Laboratory was one of the first laboratories authorized under this legislation as a contractor-operated facility dedicated to fulfilling the new Commission's mission.

Before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was created, nuclear regulation was the responsibility of the AEC, which Congress first established in the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Eight years later, Congress replaced that law with the Atomic Energy Act Amendments of 1954, which for the first time made the development of commercial nuclear power possible. The act assigned the AEC the functions of both encouraging the use of nuclear power and regulating its safety. The AEC's regulatory programs sought to ensure public health and safety from the hazards of nuclear power without imposing excessive requirements that would inhibit the growth of the industry. This was a difficult goal to achieve, especially in a new industry, and within a short time the AEC's programs stirred considerable controversy. Stephanie Cooke has written that:

"the AEC had become an oligarchy controlling all facets of the military and civilian sides of nuclear energy, promoting them and at the same time attempting to regulate them, and it had fallen down on the regulatory side ... a growing legion of critics saw too many inbuilt conflicts of interest".<2>

An increasing number of critics during the 1960s charged that the AEC's regulations were insufficiently rigorous in several important areas, including radiation protection standards, nuclear reactor safety, plant siting, and environmental protection.

In 1973, the AEC predicted that, by the turn of the century, one thousand reactors would be producing electricity for homes and businesses across the USA. But after 1973, reactor orders declined sharply as electricity demand fell and construction costs rose. Many orders and partially completed plants were cancelled.<3>

By 1974, the AEC's regulatory programs had come under such strong attack that Congress decided to abolish the agency. Supporters and critics of nuclear power agreed that the promotional and regulatory duties of the AEC should be assigned to different agencies. The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 put the regulatory functions of the AEC into the new NRC, which began operations on January 19, 1975; and placed the promotional functions within the Energy Research and Development Administration, which was later incorporated into the United States Department of Energy.