http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6330745/

Radioactive material revealed as vulnerable
Government Web site listed location of radioactive material
By Lisa Myers and the NBC Investigative Unit
Updated: 9:26 a.m. ET Oct. 26, 2004

In a medical building in the Washington, D.C., area, a freezer of
radioactive material sat in a hallway unguarded.


How did NBC News find it? By carefully reading a U.S. government Web
site belonging to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There, NBC News
found more than a dozen recently filed documents identifying
hospitals, universities and businesses that store dangerous
radioactive materials — complete with detailed floor plans and room
numbers.

"It's mind-boggling that some three-years after September 11, we can
still find detailed drawings like this," says Charles Ferguson, a
former State Department official and dirty bomb expert now at the
Council on Foreign Relations.

"This Web site can provide a road map to a terrorist. It shows them
exactly where they need to go to find dangerous radioactive
materials," says Ferguson.

One floor plan was helpfully color-coded, with red indicating the most
potent material. On another, an East Coast hospital revealed that its
radioactive material is near the blood bank. So, NBC checked the room
number listed, and got right up to the door.

For security reasons, NBC News is not identifying the facilities. Some
hospitals and universities, which were required to provide the
information to the NRC, were stunned to learn the floor plans were
posted on a Web site.

Especially troubling to experts — information, including a map and
photo, making it easy to find a Texas business storing large amounts
of deadly materials.

According to Ferguson, there's enough material at this facility to
make "probably at least a dozen" dirty bombs.

So how could this happen?

An NRC official says it's because of the public demand to know where
radioactive material is kept.

"The floor plan of itself is, in our minds, not a significant amount
of information to lead to successful terrorist attacks," says NRC
security official Roy Zimmerman.

The NRC adds that radioactive material often is housed in heavy
machines and not easily removed.












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