Nevada officials this week issued their opposition to the U.S. Energy Department’s consideration of the Nevada Test Site as the location for a new facility to produce plutonium triggers, or “pits,” for nuclear weapons, according to Energy Daily (see GSN, Aug. 1).

In comments submitted in response to Energy’s draft environmental impact statement on the Modern Pit Facility, Nevada officials said the department did not consider “the potential stigmatizing effects” of the facility on the state, Energy Daily reported.  Nevada officials also said the department could not be counted on to operate the facility safely due to its record of favoring weapons production over safe operations at other nuclear weapons sites.

“DOE’s track record in this regard at almost all its facilities is atrocious, and nothing in the draft EIS demonstrates that DOE has learned the management, oversight and ‘cultural’ lessons of the past,” the officials said in their comments (George Lobsenz, Energy Daily, Aug. 6).

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