Defense Board Catches Los Alamos Trying to Dodge Plutonium Safety Vulnerability
The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) was the first to report that the Department of Energy (DOE) had delayed a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) report about a potential major threat to public safety posed by plutonium at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos).
“This is just the most recent example of DOE not only failing to address a safety or security vulnerability, but also attempting to withhold bad news from top management, Congress, and the public,” said POGO Senior Investigator Peter Stockton. “This time, though, the Department isn’t getting away with it, and is now in full spin-control mode.”
The vulnerability, safety controls that are insufficient to mitigate the release of plutonium to the public, has long been known and unaddressed by DOE and Los Alamos. DOE allowed Los Alamos to avoid dealing with emergency public safety risks of an earthquake or fire by saying the government will accept the risk without forcing the contractor to impose any additional safety controls. Only now is DOE considering removing significant amounts of plutonium from that facility to other DOE weapons facilities.
