Nuclear Fuel Sale May Lead To Movie

It sounds like a tall tale about a Pocatello man who formed a company with a Hollywood producer, and a major film star is interested in playing him in a movie.

But Tom Johansen makes the tale more interesting.

In 1993, the used car and salvage metal dealer bought $16 million worth of nuclear fuel reprocessing equipment in a surplus auction at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.

It was capable of producing weapons-grade uranium, and could have been used by any country trying to develop a nuclear weapons program, U.S. Department of Energy officials finally realized.

Johansen applied for a license to sell the gear overseas, hoping to sell it to an American ally. But federal officials forbade any such sale, leaving him stuck with the equipment and an expensive rent bill at a storage facility.

News crews from around the world are visiting Johansen. The equipment has been cut into pieces and shipped to a smelter to be melted down. Johansen has received two of the three checks that will total $475,000 for his trouble.

Actor Michael Keaton has apparently expressed a strong interest in playing Johansen in the movie after seeing him on the CBS news program “Eye to Eye,” Johansen said.

McCawley said that Keaton has three movies to film before he will be free to work on the proposed film, which McCawley has called for the time being “Pocatello Nuclear Fire Sale.” That means it could be several years for the film to be made, if at all.