Oak Ridge Worker Free on Bond

A maintenance worker at a nuclear material cleanup site in Oak Ridge is free on $25,000 bond after being charged with selling classified equipment for enriching uranium. Authorities said 65-year-old Roy Lynn Oakley of Roane County wanted to sell the equipment to foreign governments. Instead, it ended up in the hands of undercover FBI agents. His lawyer said Oakley is being prosecuted for selling three to five pieces of non-radioactive broken pipe that would have been thrown away if Oakley hadn't taken them. Officials said none of it ever made it out of the country, or made its way to criminal or terror groups.

Oakley pleaded not guilty to possessing hardware used in uranium enrichment. He could face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Oakley, who has no criminal record, worked as a low-level contractor for Bechtel Jacobs Company at the East Tennessee Technology Park. It once housed the government's gaseous diffusion plant used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.