P. M. BRIEFING : FBI Probes Ohio A-Arms Plant Fraud

WASHINGTON —  The FBI said today it is conducting a preliminary investigation of alleged financial fraud at an Energy Department plant in Ohio that makes materials for nuclear weapons.

Edwin Boldt, an FBI spokesman in Cincinnati, said the probe is unrelated to the Energy Department’s decision to launch on Thursday its own investigation of environmental controls and other operations at the Feed Materials Production Center in Fernald, Ohio, one of the key contributors to U.S. nuclear weapons production.

Boldt said the FBI investigation was triggered by an allegation of criminal wrongdoing in contracting of the Fernald plant work. He declined to identify either the origin of the allegation, the date of its receipt by the FBI or the specific nature of the alleged fraud.