Guaranteed data security?

I’ve often struggled with the securing of passwords and data, both at the personal level, and at the level of the business networks I look after.

My own data is pretty secure, as I have not problem in keeping lists of password and accounts secret and secure, and following the simple not do pass any of them on to anyone – EVER. Same goes for any source that ever contacts me by any means possible. This never happen with a legitimate party, so these are disconnected, deleted, or ignored if they ever appear. Their mere existence is enough to warn that they are bogus, and phishing for the unwary.

Business systems are easier in some respects, as I’m the only person with top-level access, and control everone else’s access,  but it does have the responsibility problem, as I’m the only one that can maintain the systems concerned, but, there’s a surprising advantage that comes with that problem. Since no-one else accesses the systems, and only I allow all user access, there are no problems caused by unauthorised tampering, so barring system implosion, things actually work surprisingly well and smoothly. And anything unauthorised sticks out a mile, like the proverbial sore thumb.

That said, as systems grow, there is a need to act more responsibly, and while I’m not giving away any of my own solutions, the points in the following article is worth giving consideration:

When I’m dead, how will my loved ones break my password? Tales from the encrypt: If you care about the integrity of your data, it’s time to investigate solutions for accessing and securing it – and not just for the here and now.

(Considering how simple it is to secure things, you have to wonder how those charged and entrusted with handling and managing really sensitive data don’t appear to be able to do it. Maybe if they were simply fired whenever they were found to have failed, natural selection would make things better).

Polphail – abandoned village redevelopment announced

A sudden jump in last week’s site activity was explained when the detailed stats for the week arrived this morning, and identified the single cause as our Portavadie page, with more than four time the usual number of page views for the whole site being directed towards this single page on Tuesday, and almost the same on Wednesday. Then things returned to normal.

In Tuesday, June 23, the BBC carried a news item on Reporting Scotland, with a video from the village, reporting on an announcement by the owner that the derelict accommodation at Polphail was to be demolished, and construction of 270 houses on site would be completed by 2019.

The area has already seen a number of other deelopments and changes in recent years, although it would appear that all previous plans for development of the Polphail village area have failed to materialise.

Polphail was built as accommodation for construction workers, when Portavdie was chosen as the site for a construction yard for concrete oil platforms, but the demand the government of the time had hoped to cash in from the oil boom of the 1970s simply never materialised, and after creating what one report described as the largest and most expensive man-made hole in the world, it abandoned the site.

We’ve seen two reports on the hole – excavated to form the dry dock where the platforms would have been constructed – and one has to have a misprint, as each has a different cost figure, £4 million and £14 million. We’d really appreciate it if anyone could point us at a definitive figure or report, so that we could quote the correct figure with some confidence

The slipway for the Portavadie to Tarbert ferry has been moved from the area of the dry dock, and relocated just to the north – a modicication that has yet to be caught by some of the online mapping services, which still show the old road leading into the water there. The former dry dock is now a marina, which was completed and opened recently, and will be looking forward to the arrivial of the homes wich will eventually occupy the old accommodation area. The sheltered coastal area has also seen the creation of a fish farm.

Waverley woes II

Not quite to the day (it was actually June 19), but almost exactly a year ago I wrote about the paddle steamer Waverley’s unfortunate start to the 2008 season, Paddle Steamer Waverley suffers at start of season, when problems with a drive shaft sent the steamer off to Greenock’s James Watt Dock for essential repairs, and the Telegraph newspaper published a claim by the Nautilus UK trade union, alleging to have found evidence of failure to comply with with UK employment regulations regarding a Latvian sailor working on board.

I should add here that Waverley excursions replied that the accusations were unfounded, and that they were without grounds, but I failed to catch any later reports, so can’t provide any update on the outcome.

Waverley is seen below, during that 2008 visit to the James Watt Dock.

You did spot the missing paddle wheel, didn’t you?

PS Waverley under repair at James Watt Dock, Greenock, June 2008 © Thomas Nugent

Sadly, it came to pass that the 2009 season began little better for the last ocean-going paddle steamer in the world, when a routine survey of the boilers at the start of the year showed that they required essential work, and their extent saw PS Waverley sailings postponed to May/June.

It seems that the rest of last year’s season was not without incident, and according to some online reports I’ve read regarding 2008, PS Waverly and English piers don’t seem to get on too well with one another, and are said to have come to blows on more than one occasion.

If correct, it seems that this problem has made it across the border, and it seems that the Waverley had a coming together with pier at Dunoon, on June 26.

Waverley Excursions issued a statement on their website: “Whilst berthing at Dunoon the Paddle Steamer Waverley landed heavily on the Pier. There were passengers on board, 12 of whom sustained very minor injuries which were attended to by a doctor.”

One of the passenger said there had been a loud bang, followed by a hissing sound coming from two of the life rafts stored on deck, which had been released into the water and began to auto-inflate. He added that the other passengers didn’t seem to be angered or begin complaining about the incident, but appeared to be more concerned about the damage done to the steamer.

You can see the damage suffered by the steamer in this picture, with the life raft mount visible immediately above – small wonder two of them made the way down to the sea.

There is also a gallery with more Waverley images here.

Waverley seems to have more than her share of problems, and it should be remembered that compared to today’s modern ferries,manoeuvring with two giant paddle wheels lacks the finesse of control which these vessels now enjoy thanks to the adoption of bow thrusters, Voith Schneider propellers, and azi-pod propellers – although on the Clyde at least, the latter appears to have proven somewhat inferior to the Voith Schneider units which preceded them.

<a href=”http://secretscotland.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/ps-waverley-sailings-postponed-to-mayjune/”>PS Waverley sailings postponed to May/June</a>

Black Craig wind farm developer dangles £64,000 annual community benefit

As noted recently, an appeal by West Coast Energy Ltd against Argyll and Bute Council’s refusal of plans to build a 14-turbine wind farm on Corlarach Hill, facing directly into Rothesay Bay, was dismissed.

At the same time, it was noted that there was another appeal under inquiry with regard to a 16-turbine installation on Black Craig, directly north of Corlarach, by Argyll Windfarms Ltd.

In the past, I’ve been taken to task for suggesting the wind farms received a subsidy, and eventually gave up explaining that I wasn’t referring to direct subsidies, payments or grants, but to the indirect subsidies which apply to the electricity generated by renewable sources. Two sources have provided this indirect subsidy: The Renewables Obligation, which is an artificial market administered by the government’s Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem); and The Climate Change Levy.

For a fuller and more comprehensive description of the process, which I’m not even going to attempt in this space (it can get complicated, even though the idea is simple, but the government’s involved, so what else would you expect?) you can download and read a Word document which gives fuller details here. It’s even got pictures, which might make it easier for some of the folk who have had a go at me – their command of English suggests reading might not be one of their strong points.

Returning to Black Craig, Bute Community Council (BCC) has been told that the developer has suggested that there might be a ‘community benefit’ of £64,000 a year coming Bute’s way – part of an overall payment scheme for the wider area of £4.4 million over 25 years – should the scheme receive planning permission. The developer is reported to be “keen” to meet representatives from Bute to discuss ‘community benefit’.

Also, a local councillor warned that there might be consequences should BCC decline to enter talks until after a final decision is made by Scottish ministers on the fate of the project. He suggest that it may be too late to enter discussions should the project be given the go-ahead, and that the developer may then just do as it pleases once it has approval for the scheme. The councillor pointed out that the law states there should be a ‘community benefit’ of some kind from any wind farm project, and suggested it would do no harm to at least talk to the developer.

That warning, however, cut no ice with a number of BCC members, with treasurer Ian Hopkins suggesting that he felt the offer was “just blackmail”.

The fate of the Black Craig project currently lies in the hands of Scottish Government.

SPT bus shelter cameras revealed

As noted earlier, we’re enjoying the arrival of a number of SPT bus shelters in the east end, fitted with six CCTV cameras to monitor not only the interior of the shelter, but also the area around and behind it.

SPT camera shelter

This would be fine, but a closer look at these shelters and the CCTV cameras fixed to them shows that many of these point directly at people’s homes, and in particular at their doors and windows – not so fine if you don’t know who’s looking or when, or if the images are being recorded and stored.

While I was pottering around with the pics I had taken, I discovered it was fairly easy to look into the darkened windows that cover the cameras, and made some interesting discoveries.

The first was that none of those seen so far actually have any cameras fitted. As per the pic below, when you look behind the tinted “black” plastic window, all that there is to be found is an empty mounting plate. Presumably the cameras will come later.

SPT bus shelter CCTV camera

Although I can’t be sure, it looks as if some of the mountings are dummies, and will never be fitted with cameras. These appear to be fitted opaque black plastic windows, and I wasn’t able to penetrate this and see the interior. However, this was only discovered when I tried to post-process the pic, so it may be that I simply failed to take a pic that showed the interior. I’d have to wander back to the same site for more pics to be sure – maybe later.

The other problem I found was that the local neds have taken offence to many of these fittings, and I had to discard most of the interior pics as useless, as they had been spat on – or possibly worse – and the filth on the window made it almost impossible to penetrate the interior of the housing. As it is, scratches on the surface of the window had to be post-processed out of the image above, in order to see through relatively clearly.

Still, it’s interesting to note the current absence of any detectable cameras, for the moment, although the wiring is clearly in place, as a number of bus shelters already carry lighting and passenger information signs with information regarding the next three buses due at the stop, and although I don’t use the buses, these appea to work quite well.

Government War Book published

What was once the most secret of all British government documents has been released in full. During the Cold War, civil servants used to rehearse the end of the world – what would happen if deterrence failed and nuclear war became inevitable.

One of the most sensible things heard in the discussions surrounding this release, bearing in mind the people making the comments were actually involved in the process, is the reality that Scotland’s nuclear bases are absolutely irrelevant in the event that a global nuclear war erupted. The UK was, and is, a densely populated island, and would have had every city town, port, harbour, airport, base, establishment, office and whatever targeted by multiple nuclear warheads, regardless of its nuclear involvement. If it was a centre of management and control, or some sort of access point, it would have been targeted at the very least. Had such a strike been made, it would have wiped out the UK, and no drawing of a non-nuclear line at the Scottish-English border would make any difference either to whoever was targeting the UK, or the direction and extent of the resultant fallout and contamination.

In reality, there would have been little for anyone in a bunker to come out to, if they had survived, as there can also be little doubt that the bunker locations were known, and targeted with some of the largest ground-burst weapons, and they were not really deep enough to survive direct hits by nuclear weapons. At the time, American technology could guide a nuclear weapon to within a few metres of its target – the systems were said to be so accurate that they simply couldn’t be improved. For example, a single warhead gyroscope was costed at £300,000. By way of contrast, the Soviets were unable to match American accuracy, which is why their nuclear weapons were always so much bigger – if they couldn’t guarantee dropping them exactly on the the right spot, then near enough would do, so long as they made a big enough bang!

Listen to Rehearsing the end of the world from the BBC’s Today programme.

A Press Association article described it as a grim picture of post nuclear war UK:

The Cold War document drawn up by the Government more than 40 years ago sets out in immense detail how Britain would have been administered in the event of a nuclear exchange. The book has been obtained by historian Peter Hennessy, who said it showed how civil servants “peered into the abyss” as they contemplated what would need to be done if nuclear war became a reality.

Prof Hennessy, professor of contemporary history at Queen Mary University of London, told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “The surprise really is the width and magnitude of it – 16 chapters to get the nation from a peacetime footing to a total war footing. It is a remarkable enterprise. It was done by people who had to do it. It must have been one of the most terrible jobs in Whitehall during the Cold War. It literally was requiring people in immense security to peer into the abyss.”

Prof Hennessy said the War Book spelt out in detail plans which were hidden behind coded references in previously-released material.

The book sets out scenarios in which an exchange of nuclear weapons might take place, with mock daily briefings from the Joint Intelligence Committee and bulletins from civil defence officials in the Home Office.

Each day, a mock cabinet of civil servants would meet to decide what elements of the emergency plans should be implemented.

Prof Hennessy said: “They had to take very significant decisions, including alerting the civil servants who wouldn’t know at that point that they were earmarked either for the central Government bunker under the Cotswolds at Corsham or for the 12 regional bunkers. The country was going to be split into 12 mini-kingdoms after the bomb had dropped, with real draconian powers for a Cabinet minister, a senior military figure, a policeman and a judge.”

Beware of the, er… kitten:

Ok, this has nothing to with Scotland or secrecy, but does involve a cat, or to be more accurate, a six month old, 7 lb kitten, which appears to be a Rottweiler in disguise if you’re a postie.

Illy the kitten is accused of attacking postmen delivering to her owner’s home and now the terrified postmen threaten to boycott the house after being attacked by the baby cat, according to a story in the Daily Mail.

They say she once jumped up at the letterbox and delivered a painful scratch to a postwoman’s hand. Thet’re now so frightened, they’ve sent a strongly worded letter to Illy’s owners – warning them to discipline her or face a delivery ban.

Discipline a kitten – what planet do these mouse-like posties come from?

The owner received a warning letter from an office manager at Royal Mail.

It read:

‘I am writing to let you know that, on the 6th of June , our postman was attacked by your animal in your premises while delivering mail to your address.

‘Animal attacks are a major cause of injury to Royal Mail staff and so I am writing to seek your co-operation in preventing a repeat of this unfortunate incident.

‘I must advise you that, if any further incidents of this nature are allowed to take place, I shall have no alternative other than to consider suspending the delivery of mail to your home.’

A Royal Mail spokesman said it always treats animal attacks on postmen seriously, however minor they might appear.

‘We record about 5,000 animal attacks on our postmen and women each year with the vast majority being dogs,’ he said.

‘The member of staff suffered a very bad cut to her hand while delivering mail through the letterbox of the address.’

He said the injury was serious enough to ‘require treatment’.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The thing that mystifies me about this story is what the postwoman was doing in order to have her hand sufficiently far through the customer’s letterbox in order to receive a “painful scratch” that was serious enough to “require treatment”. I drop off letters to neighbours’ houses, and don’t find any need to put even my fingers, let alone my hand, through the letterbox. Perhaps Royal Mail require to carry out some Health and Safety training for its staff, in order to show them how to protect their delicate extremities?

What was the treatment anyway? What treatment does a painful scratch require?

Stitches? Injections? Sticking plaster?

Oh, no, I’m forgetting the Health and Safety nutters we just mentioned the other day mean that sticking plasters can’t be used in case someone has an allergy.

Bute ferries – interesting bits

I generally stay away from news about the ferries to the Isle of Bute, it’s just too risky sometimes thanks to the anti-CalMac brigade.

However, it’s worth popping one’s head above water every so often, when some interesting news shows up.

MV Bute web site

The first thing I spotted was mention of a new web site which has been started by the crew of one of the Bute ferries, MV Bute. Bute was the first of the new ferries which began the process of replacing the ageing, but popular, streakers: MVs Juno, Jupiter, and Saturn, and not forgetting MV Pioneer (by design, not a streaker), in June of 2005. The earlier ferries were all side-loaders, which limited their efficiency somewhat, Bute, and the second new ferry serving the Isle of Bute, MV Argyle, are RoRo ferries, so the traffic rolls in one end of the vessel, and rolls out of the other. While the ferry terminal at Wemyss Bay was always end loading, that at Rothesay was had always been side-loading until a couple of years ago, when a new end-loading linkspan was finally installed.

The MV Bute web site is not connected to the official Caledonian MacBrayne web site.

Again, an excellent evening shot of MV Bute berthed at Rothesay, thanks to Zak.

MV Bute at Rothesay June 2009 © Zak

Ferry fare reductions – maybe not all good

One of the great never-ending stories that can be found if you read enough about the islands (or even just places that are easier to get to by ferry rather than road) of the Clyde and the ferries which serve them is a near universal call for a reduction in ferry fares, claims that they are much higher than they need to be, and that the fact that there is only one ferry operator (Caledonian MacBrayne) means that there is a monopoly, and that the operator is abusing that position.

One of the great “holy grails” of some is the achievement of RET, or Road Equivalent Tariff, which does exactly what its name suggests, but does have some hidden fiddles which mean that its implementation is not as simple as some suggest, most notably, RET sets fares based on the length of the journey and very little else, however it also includes a fixed element, and the effect of this is to penalise short journeys, something its keen proposers generally choose to ignore. At the moment, RET trials are taking place in the Western Isles, but these will not be concluded until 2011, and it’s anyone’s guess how long it will be before officialdom crunches the numbers to produce a report, followed no doubt by more delays as meeting and discussion are held to determine the next step. 2012, or maybe 2013 if they rush it all through, and there is no additional delay from public consultation phases, which will no doubt be called for.

One of the interesting points I noted being made in response to calls for fare reductions was a warning that the effects of such reductions cut both ways. While it may make it easier for people to visit island communities, it also makes it easier for islanders to get off the island, and give their custom to off-island shops and suppliers, who generally offer a greater variety of products at lower prices than can be found on the islands.

An interesting balance, bring in more tourists and money, but have that money spent off the island as the islanders’ income is boosted.

Ferry timetable changes to catch trains and buses

One of the great woes of ferry users from the Isle of Bute is the infuriating lack of coordination between the ferry timetable, and the times of the connecting trains and buses. There are numerous instances reported where the ferry is docking as the train or bus is leaving, or where they arrive as the ferry is departing. Unfortunately, while it might sound like a simple solution, there is no option of the drivers or masters delaying for a few minutes – because they are all subject to analysis of their performance, and if they are late, this can affect payments arising from things such as government subsidies which contribute to their running costs. Be late and fail to meet the published timetable too many times for any reason, and the money gets cut, or penalties imposed.

Caledonian Macbrayne has proposed to make a small number of changes to its Bute timetables as the 2009-10 service begins in October.

There will be a few changes to the Sunday afternoon schedule, intended to provide better integration with the train service from Glasgow Central, and McGill’s bus for Greenock.

The wee ferry operating between Rhubodach and Colintraive will also see changes to its timetable from Monday to Friday, these intended to provide better connections with the bus service.

I can’t help but feel that the wee ferry’s change from sailing “as required”, when it would make the crossing only when the master had (or saw waiting) fares, to a regime where it sails to a timetable, has more to do with a pen-pusher somewhere, eager to note failures to meet the timetable and raise penalties, than it has to do with improving the passenger service.

Without the set sailings, some of which presumably sail empty, the master could choose to sail at his discretion, and meet the bus.

Who knows, if the bus driver and ferry master were on speaking terms, they could even arrange to wait for one another, and make sure passengers made their respective connections – but that would be too easy for officialdom to comprehend, wouldn’t it? And would all but rule out the option to note failures to meet timetable times, and enact penalty clauses.

Full details will be available in the timetables published on CalMac’s own web site.

Good news – and bad news about insidious Phorm

Intrusive internet advertising company Phorm has released some good news and some bad news in recent weeks.

The company has provoked the wrath of provacy campaigners and prompted a European commission legal action against the British government over secret tests of its technology by BT in 2006 and 2007. Ministers had ruled that BT had not breached privacy laws.

The suspicious might be forgiven for suspecting the British government was giving Phorm the green light to develop technology that it would be slated for developing itself. No, surely not.

Phorm‘s prospects were dealt a welcome blow when online retailer Amazon decided to opt out.

The bad news was that Phorm has raised more than £100 million from greedy advertisers who think Phorm’s technology will transform the value of internet advertising, and that a further £15 million had just been raised. The company’s hopes of success also depend on getting consumers on board and persuading them that the service is a benefit rather than a threat. The company recently announced a new free consumer service called Discover, which provides web users with links based on their online browsing habits.

When will these people learn that NOBODY wants to see adverts, targeted or otherwise, as they delay the loading of web pages, and become ever more irritating as the degree of animation included increases, making it almost impossible to read some pages.

I reckon I could make millions if I developed a version of Phorm that killed all ads before they were ever seen. I’d make millions every year with only a £1 annual subscription.

The good news was that Phorm saw its pre-tax loss grow to some £30 million last year (compare with a 2007 pre-tax loss of $32.1 million), but there was more bad news when it said it has enough funds to continue operating. Phorm had cash reserves of £8 million as of May 31 this year, and announced a cutback in its US operation, meaning monthly cash expenses would reduce to $1.8 million (£1.1 million).

Wouldn’t it be terrible if some challenge to their interception and theft of our data as it passes over the internet and through conspiring ISPs was to delay their achievement of gaining commercial returns from their nasty service, and they ran out of money and evaporated?

One of the things I learned early on in business was that, unless the circumstances were very exceptional (and the things said were true), then one of the greatest mistakes was to rubbish the competition or opposition, or makes derogatory statements about them.

In a move that speaks for itself, web sites belonging to Phorm can now be found on the web doing just this to those who may be less than supportive. I’m not listing or publicising them directly, some of the claims and accusations are downright nasty, but they can be found with search.

Hanford – the dirtiest place on Earth

I learned of the Hanford site when I trawled up an old article from New Scientist, written back in 1994.

In the article, an area of wilderness, the Hanford Reservation, in the southeast corner of Washington state is described as one of the world’s great environmental challenges – a vast potpourri of chemical unpleasantness. It refers to cauldrons of highly radioactive soup bumping, burping, and belching flammable gases, with subterranean plumes of carbon tetrachloride, chromium salts, radionuclides and other poisons inching their way through the soil towards the Columbia River. It notes that a  full tonne of plutonium may be lying under the sand, buried among thousands of tonnes of solid wastes. No one is too sure – the records are so poor at the Hanford nuclear site where, for four decades, the US produced plutonium for its nuclear weapons.

View Larger Map

It describes the burping tanks: huge sealed stainless vessels holding some 4 million litres or more of chemical and radioactive wastes, dumped indiscriminately by the contractors who ran Hanford. Radioactive decay produced enough heat to keep the tanks boiling for years, believed to be hot enough to destroy  ‘organics’ like he rubber, plastics and oils that were also dumped n the tanks. Still active, these basic chemical reactors generate hydrogen and various toxic gases such as oxides of nitrogen and organic vapours. The contents becaome highly stratified over time: viscous at the bottom, then more liquid, and topped by a semisolid crust, all still highly radioactive.  177 such tanks lie within the site, 18 of them burp. Tank 241-SY-101 is described as belching every four months. Gases released in the 10 metre deep soup build up sifficient pressure to burst through the crust. The exact details as unclear, the chemistry is complex, and access difficult.  A giant stirrer, seven storeys high and weighing 8 tonnes was added, in the hope of making the gases to vent continuously rather than only after building up.

Hanford’s first plutonium was delivered to the bomb makers at Los Alamos early in 1945, and it remained America’s primary source of the element until 1986. For the duration of the the Cold, production pressures meant housekeeping, other than for safety, was less than concientous. An estimated 190,000 cubic metres of highly radioactive solid waste, and 760 billion litres of less radioactive liquid waste and toxic chemicals were stored, dumped or poured into the ground. The vast expanse of the reservation insulated these activities from the public, and even from its own workforce. Three mighty “Queen Marys” – long concrete canyons in which plutonium was separated from spent reactor fuel, and early ancestors of the THORP processing complex at Sellafield – are spaced 16 kilometres apart.

Hanford ceased plutonium production in 1986, after which the process of declassifying details of 40 years of activity began. In 1989, Hanford took on a new role, and became the site where scientists would pioneer techniques for cleaning up all the nuclear production sites across the US. Of all the sites concerned, Hanford was the most seriously contaminated. It is estimated to have two-thirds of all the highly radioactive wastes produced by the US nuclear weapons industry. It contains some 1,377 waste sites including  trenches, tanks, ponds, sand-covered pits and underground storage systems called cribs,  which contain a total of some 1.4 billion cubic metres of hazardous materials. Nine nuclear piles, the original plutonium-producing reactors, lie beside the river awaiting decommissioning. Along with the “Queen Marys” and four newer reprocessing plants, they contain some 430,000 tonnes of radioactive materials.

The US government wanted Hanford to be cleaned up within three decades, by 2020, according to the 1994 article. The prime contractor being Westinghouse Hanford Company – a subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Corporation and the prime contractor at Hanford during its plutonium-producing days. The 994 article gives an estimate of between $50 billion and $200 billion for the cleanup. It also notes that nobody really knows – since nobody has decided how clean “clean enough” is.

One interesting point noted in the original article was the recognition that the scientists involved in the cleanup would have to be allowed to find out just what was in the 1,377 waste sites before they could be dealt with. So often, when progress is demanded by the pen-pushers, there is no interest in what is to be done, just when it will be done.

The full 1994 article remains available online.

It’s interesting to use the original 1994 New Scientist article as a reference, and look up the various reports that can be found regarding the later years, and the progress of decontamination and clean-up work on the site.

First ever bulk production of plutonium found on Hanford site

The large, stained, glass bottle to the right was found inside this rusty safe, and contains a sample of the first weapons-grade plutonium ever purified. (Image: Washington Closure Hanford) Click the image to see a gallery.

In 2004, clean-up work uncovered a battered, rusted, and broken old safe containing a glass jug inside which was 400 millilitres of plutonium. Tests have shown this plutonium was the first ever processed at the site, and the first made on a usable scale anywhere in the world.

The sample is technically the second oldest sample of plutonium-239, but remains the earliest produced during the Manhattan Project and the first bulk batch of weapons grade plutonium manufactured anywhere.

The plutonium-239 was used for Trinity, the first ever nuclear weapon test, on 16 July 1945. Just three-and-a-half weeks later, more of this plutonium was used in the nuclear strike on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

The team involved in cleaning up the site where it was found read that a safe matching the description of the one unearthed in 2004 was sealed in 1945 because of radioactive contamination. It was disposed of in 1951, and remained lost for the next 50 years.

John Simpson, an expert on nuclear history at Southampton University in the UK, thinks the new find is important.

“From the historical records, it looks as if they’ve got it right,” he says. “But the puzzling thing is, why didn’t this plutonium make it into the bomb?” In 1944, the Americans were working flat out to develop a nuclear capability – it’s strange that any first large batch of plutonium-239 should be stored and not used, he says.

The reason is thought to be because of the radioactive contamination of the safe it was being stored in. The first batch would eventually have been folded back into the stockpile if not for that contamination, which was not due to the plutonium, but something outside its container.

Despite its historic significance, the sample is unlikely to end up in a museum. New Brunswick Labs intend to create a standard reference sample for plutonium-239 from the material, partly because of its primacy as the oldest sample. The other factor is its extreme purity – 99.96% plutonium-239 is as pure a sample of 239 that has been seen produced from any reactor.