1.   An immediate question is how to handle the plutonium that will be released from dismantled nuclear weapons.

2.   A different process, called a dry process, is used for handling plutonium, at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, said lab spokesman David Schwoegler.

3.   What the Soviet agents had not obtained, apparently, was information on the safeguards American scientists had developed to protect U.S. workers against inhaling and handling plutonium.

4.   But other nations have abandoned similar projects due to the high costs and dangers associated with handling plutonium, which is highly toxic and radioactive.

5.   Other nations have abandoned similar projects because of the expense and danger of handling plutonium, an extremely radioactive and toxic substance.

6.   The next year, the United States trained Indian scientists in handling plutonium.