Plutonium was stolen from a government official’s car last year. It's still missing.

Plutonium plant in Japan.
(Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Plutonium went missing from the back seat of government worker's car last March, and the Department of Energy still has no idea where it went.

In March 2017, two Energy Department officials were supposed to drive from an Idaho lab to pick up some nuclear materials in San Antonio, Texas, and bring them back safely, The Center for Public Integrity reports. They rented a Ford Expedition, packed some plutonium and cesium, and eventually stopped at a Marriott hotel for the night. In the morning, the nuclear materials they left in the back seat were gone.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.