A fake Virginia company set up by U.S. government investigators was able to get licenses to acquire enough nuclear material to build a dirty bomb.

At the request of Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., the top minority member of the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, staff members of the Government Accountability Office tested the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing system, The New York Times said.

The GAO report released Thursday said the NRC approved the nuclear license with a minimal background check, no face-to-face interview or visits to the company, The Washington Post said.

The machines the fake company were given permission to buy -- but did not -- contained americium 241 and cesium 137, radioactive elements that could create a non-fissile bomb that spreads radiation over a wide area, CNN reported.

NRC spokesman Eliot Brenner said the loopholes the GAO found have been fixed.

"We moved rapidly to fix this," Brenner told CNN. "Now, any new applicant for a license for these far less dangerous materials will get a visit from the NRC or have to come to see us and prove their bona fides." // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 13 July 2007   

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