Tritium Missing but Theft of Gas Is Doubted

The Energy Department said Friday that it has suspended commercial shipments of tritium, a radioactive gas used primarily in nuclear weapons, because small quantities are missing. But an official called the action “no big deal” and suggested that shipments may be resumed next week.

Spokesman Phil Keif said that a review of the matter is “pretty well over” and that Energy Secretary James D. Watkins is expected to make a decision next week on whether to resume shipments from Oak Ridge National Laboratory near Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Most tritium is used in nuclear weapons, although some is used in making medical diagnoses and in manufacturing luminous lights and dials.

Keif said that some commercial customers had not received all of the gas supposedly shipped from Oak Ridge. Other quantities have disappeared from test shipments between lab buildings at the facility, which is operated by Martin Marietta Corp. under a contract with the government.

He said that there are no suspicions that the unaccounted-for quantities had been stolen or diverted to nuclear weapons manufacture by another nation or group.

“It may have been leaks of the gas, or maybe sloppy handling or sloppy measurements,” Keif said.

The department last July announced a halt in tritium shipments from Oak Ridge after an inconclusive search for about 5 grams of missing tritium. Lab records showed that the 5 grams had been shipped to commercial customers, but the customers claimed it never arrived.

In August, the department said that it was resuming most shipments after finding bits of the missing material and discounting the likelihood of theft.

A confidential internal report disclosed that less than 2 grams of tritium had disappeared in a subsequent test aimed at trying to determine the cause of the “losses.” The report, obtained by the Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request, said three-quarters of a test sample disappeared during a round trip of loading and unloading between two labs.

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who has raised questions about the disappearances, ridiculed the test results.

“You have to wonder what kind of Keystone Kops operation the Department of Energy has down at Oak Ridge when they lose more than 22,000 curies of tritium in a test designed to find out why DOE keeps on losing track of tritium,” he said. A curie is a unit of radioactivity.

“Given the possibility of a diversion for nuclear weapons purposes, it’s time we started getting some answers,” he said.