U.S. nuclear lab ex-contractor accused of stealing

U.S. nuclear lab ex-contractor accused of stealing

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former contract worker at a nuclear laboratory run by the U.S. Energy Department was charged with stealing classified equipment used for uranium enrichment, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

Officials said Roy Oakley, 67, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville, Tennessee, as part of an undercover FBI operation in which federal agents posed as representatives of a foreign nation seeking to buy the materials.

They said Oakley worked as a contract employee doing cleanup work at the East Tennessee Technology Park, a site within the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Energy Department's largest science and energy research facility.

According to the two-count indictment, Oakley in January possessed equipment known as "barriers" and associated hardware used for uranium enrichment.

He gave it to another person, having reason to believe it would hurt the United States and help a foreign nation, the indictment said.

The second count charged him with converting the equipment, which belonged to the Energy Department, for his own use.

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