For years secrecy trumped communications within the U.S. Department of Energy, resulting in the United States now facing a critical shortage of a rare gas needed for detecting nuclear weapons smuggling.

 

At one end of the Energy Department is the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), responsible for overseeing the nation’s arsenal of nuclear weapons. Included in this duty is the decommissioning of old warheads and the removal of helium-3 gas, which is used by experts in another wing of the Energy Department, the Isotope Program, for locating the illegal shipment of nuclear weapons materials.

 

Because the NNSA considered the volume of helium-3 classified information, it never told Isotope officials that the amount of gas was dwindling, now that the U.S. isn’t taking apart as many warheads as in the past. Meanwhile, the Isotope Program, unaware of the shrinking gas supply, invested $200 million in new technology that utilized helium-3 for proliferation detection.

 

Consequently, government scientists and contractors are now frantically searching for new detection technology that doesn’t rely on helium-3.

 

Representative Donna Edwards (D-Maryland), the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee in charge of scientific investigations, characterized the situation as “gross mismanagement.”

 

“With so much riding on helium-3, it is shocking to learn that the department’s forecast for demand is based simply on a telephone log tracking those who called asking about the availability of helium-3,” Edwards told The New York Times.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Agencies’ Lack of Coordination Hindered Supply of Crucial Gas, Report Says (by Matthew Wald, New York Times)