Pocatello (670 KBOI News) – The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing an $8,500 fine against Idaho State University for losing track of a small quantity of weapons-grade plutonium.

Victor Dricks with the NRC in Washington DC says it’s not unusual for universities to be allowed to use samples of radioactive material.

“It’s used for research purposes,” said Dricks.  “It’s a very small quantity, about one gram, about the size of a quarter.  They identified it as missing and reported it to use last year.  They believe it went missing sometime between 2004 and 2017.”

Dricks says the amount of plutonium is too small to make a bomb, but they are concerned about potential exposure of the public to the radiation.

He says just because the material is unaccounted for, though, doesn’t mean it’s been stolen.  It may have already been shipped back to the Energy Department, and someone lost track of it.