The Chemical World This Week
HEARINGS PROBE MISSING NUCLEAR MATERIAL Coming at a time when people are so sensitive to the possibilities for nuclear terrorism and proliferation, the report was downright inflammatory: The Energy Research & Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week admitted that they could not account for some 4 metric tons of bomb-grade uranium and plutonium—enough for about 200 nuclear bombs. The report spurred new interest in an old rumor that, in the mid-1960's, material from at least one nuclear fuel fabrication plant had been "quasiofficially" diverted to Israel. "This is the kind of subject that sends chills up my spine," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D.-Mich.), who last week made the new report the subject of special hearings of his Subcommittee on Energy & Power. Under questioning by Dingell and committee lawyers, NRC operations director Lee Gossick and ERDA acting administrator Robert W. Fri continued to maintain that their agencies had found no evidence for any clandestine diversion of nuclear material. In fact, says Fri, much of the missing material probably never existed. The phrase Inventory Difference (ID) describes the situation more accurately than the older term Material Unaccounted For, Fri says. ID's come about in three main ways. First, when plutonium is generated in production reactors such as the one at Savannah River in South Carolina, the amounts created can only be estimated beforehand. The difference between these theoretical calculations and the amount of plutonium actually recovered accounts for 40% of ERDA's plutonium ID, Fri says. Second, it is difficult to measure the precise nuclear material content of plant scrap such as foils, pellets, and ceramics. Some of this nuclear material is recovered, but when recovered amounts differ from the original estimates, as they usually do, the discrepancy goes down as an ID, Fri points out. Third, Fri says, a lot of material just plain gets stuck in the pipes. In a typical reprocessing plant, plutonium travels through some 50 miles of pipes; an interior coating of less than 0.00001 inch, for example, could ac4
C&EN Aug. 15, 1977
Dlngell: sends chills up my spine
count for the entire plutonium ID at Savannah River. Although no one can ever prove that nuclear material has not been diverted, Fri says, there has been no reported attempt to breach the protection measures at nuclear facilities and no positive evidence has been
found of any theft of a significant quantity of material. Moreover, he concludes, no black market of nuclear materials has ever been known to exist. Despite such assurances, many observers believe that ERDA especially has been less than forthright in its report. Rep. Morris K. Udall (D.-Ariz.) recently launched his House Interior Committee on an investigation of large and repeated ID's at the Nuclear Materials & Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Apollo, Pa. In November 1965, for example, NUMEC was unable to account for 206 lb of bomb-grade uranium. The company eventually paid the then Atomic Energy Commission $929,000 to cover the loss. Rumors that some of this material made its way to Israel remain just rumors. In 1976, however, then— Attorney General Edward H. Levi ordered a new "complete" FBI investigation into the incident; the report of that investigation is now in the hands of the Justice Department, which refuses to comment on it. G
Job offers for new graduates up sharply Employers were saying it last June, now colleges and universities are confirming it; job recruiting for new graduates is up sharply this year. The College Placement Council, in its final survey of 160 colleges and universities for the 1976-77 school year, finds job offers for graduates with a bachelor's degree up 41% over last year. At the masters level the increase is 43%, and at the doctoral level 33% over last year. Altogether, the council is calling it the most active year of the 1970's for job offers to new graduates. In June, the council released findings of a survey of 700 employers of new college graduates that showed an increase of 18% in graduates hired over the year before (C&EN, June 20, page 4). A comparison of the two surveys indicates that the number of offers being made to fill a single position also is increasing. Both surveys found the greatest increases in job recruiting were for graduates in engineering and the sciences. For instance, 53% more job offers were made to engineering
graduates than a year ago and 37% more offers for graduates in the sciences. Salaries, too, have increased during the past year, the survey finds, with science and engineering graduates continuing to get the highest salaries. At the bachelor's level, petroleum engineering graduates received the highest salary offers, averaging $1512 a month. Chemical engineers came next with offers averaging $1389. Offers for chemistry majors averaged $1102 per month. At advanced-degree levels, chemists and chemical engineers had higher salary offers and made greater gains over the previous year than did graduates in other fields. For instance, at both the masters and doctoral levels, chemical engineering graduates received the highest salary offers, averaging $1509 a month with a master's degree and $1882 with a doctorate. And chemistry accounted for the most job offers at the doctoral level as well as the largest average salary increase—9% to $1725. D
