Report: Nuclear Labs Endanger Public With Radioactive Mail

Nuclear-weapons contractors improperly packaged or shipped radioactive material, conventional explosives, and highly toxic chemicals at least 25 times in the past five years, according to newly revealed government documents. Hazardous substances used to make nuclear weapons were repeatedly mislabeled before shipment, so those handling the packages did not know to take precautions to protect themselves or the public. At least 11 of the known shipping mistakes came from Los Alamos National Laboratory, a privately run government nuclear-weapons lab in New Mexico. The lab recently admitted that it improperly shipped unstable radioactive plutonium on a FedEx cargo plane in June, violating federal regulations that such material be shipped on trucks to limit the risk of an accident.