Lawmakers question security of DOE shipment of plutonium to France

Noting concerns that terrorists may attempt to influence the U.S. November elections through an attack, Democratic lawmakers this month have raised questions concerning the security of a planned shipment of more than 100 kilograms of plutonium to France.

The Energy Department is expected next month to ship 140 kilograms of plutonium to France to be converted into mixed-oxide fuel for use in testing at a U.S. nuclear power plant for possible future energy generation. The project is intended to help advance a U.S.-Russian nonproliferation program to eliminate a combined total of almost 70 tons of plutonium.

Antinuclear activists such as Greenpeace have long opposed the shipment, arguing that such transports could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks. To demonstrate, Greenpeace activists last year were able to stop and chain themselves to a truck carrying a plutonium shipment as it traveled from a site in northern France to a facility in the south. French activists have also posted online information on the time and location of three plutonium shipments that occurred over the last two weeks, Tom Clements of Greenpeace International said today.

In an Aug. 12 letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham released Wednesday, Rep. Jim Turner, D-Texas, requested information on the department's efforts to ensure that the security of the plutonium shipment would be equal to that given to shipments of nuclear material conducted within the United States. Turner also requested information on how much control the United States would relinquish over the plutonium once it leaves the country, who would assume liability in the event of an accident and whether the recent elevation of the U.S. terrorist threat level influenced security preparations for the shipment.

"The consequences of the theft of this plutonium -- enough for over 20 nuclear weapons -- would be catastrophic," wrote Turner, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.

Turner's letter was prompted by the findings of a Government Accountability Office investigation into security measures for the plutonium shipment that he requested in June. A spokeswoman for Turner said Wednesday that the Energy Department has yet to reply to his letter.

In addition, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a leading critic of U.S. nuclear energy officials, Tuesday sent letters to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Homeland Security Department requesting security-related information by Sept. 10 on the plutonium shipment.

"It appears to me that an attack on the American plutonium that will soon be shipped to France would not pose much of a challenge, since publicly available materials suggest the trucks previously have been very easily identified, followed and filmed while traveling along highways in France, and were only lightly guarded," Markey said yesterday in a statement.

The Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration did not respond to calls for comment.

NRC spokesman David McIntyre refused to comment directly on Markey's letter, referring security-related questions concerning the plutonium shipment to the Energy Department.

McIntyre did say, though, that the physical security and protection of the shipment was a "very important" consideration in the commission's decision in June to approve the export of the plutonium to France. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is familiar with French practices, McIntyre said, and is "confident" that security arrangements for the plutonium once it reaches France will be "adequate."