Proliferating janitor pleads guilty
[Associated Press, 26 January] Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, who worked on contract as a janitor at the US Department of Energy's shut-down K-25 atomic weapons uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has pleaded guilty to trying to sell stolen parts from the plant. Oakley smuggled six pieces of enrichment kit from the plant in 2006 including three 10cm-long 'barrier' tubes for separating highly enriched uranium (HEU) in K-25's gaseous diffusion process. Oakley first offered the parts to France, by telephoning consulates in Atlanta and Chicago as well as the French Embassy in Washington. But having mastered uranium enrichment over 40 years earlier, France had no need for the parts and officials informed the FBI immediately. In a sting operation, Oakley met an undercover FBI agent posing as a representative of a foreign government and sold him the parts for $200,000. Oakley was promptly arrested. Having pleaded guilty in court to disclosing restricted data in violation of the Atomic Energy Act, the hapless would-be proliferator now faces up to six years in jail.
[Associated Press, 26 January] Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, who worked on contract as a janitor at the US Department of Energy's shut-down K-25 atomic weapons uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has pleaded guilty to trying to sell stolen parts from the plant. Oakley smuggled six pieces of enrichment kit from the plant in 2006 including three 10cm-long 'barrier' tubes for separating highly enriched uranium (HEU) in K-25's gaseous diffusion process. Oakley first offered the parts to France, by telephoning consulates in Atlanta and Chicago as well as the French Embassy in Washington. But having mastered uranium enrichment over 40 years earlier, France had no need for the parts and officials informed the FBI immediately. In a sting operation, Oakley met an undercover FBI agent posing as a representative of a foreign government and sold him the parts for $200,000. Oakley was promptly arrested. Having pleaded guilty in court to disclosing restricted data in violation of the Atomic Energy Act, the hapless would-be proliferator now faces up to six years in jail.
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