NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON STATE : Energy Dept. to Lift Plutonium Secrecy

The U.S. Department of Energy has made an unprecedented decision to release plutonium production figures covering 1944 to 1960 at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Richland, Wash. The data had been requested by a panel of scientists overseeing a study of possible health effects from past radiation releases at Hanford. Figures on the production of plutonium, a key ingredient of nuclear weapons, have long been among the nation’s most closely guarded secrets because it was thought they could help an enemy determine the size of the nation’s nuclear stockpile.