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Los Alamos Safety Concerns Remain, Report Says
Safety and security problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico remain a cause for concern, congressional investigators said in a report released yesterday (see GSN, March 21). “It is clear that safety and security approaches at the laboratory need improvement going forward,” the Government Accountability Office report says. The document quotes a National Nuclear Security Administration official as saying that “the safety culture at the laboratory is not as rigorous” as that of other Energy Department facilities. In July 2004, a general work stoppage began at the facility after two computer disks containing classified information were reported missing and a student was partially blinded by a laser. The disks, however, were later determined never to have existed, according to the Associated Press. The temporary shutdown might have cost up to $370 million, though the exact amount cannot be calculated, the GAO investigation found. The University of California, which manages Los Alamos, estimated the cost at about $121 million, while the National Nuclear Security Administration said it could have been as high as $370 million. University officials said the shutdown allowed them to fine-tune security at the laboratory, AP reported. “We firmly believe that Los Alamos National Laboratory is a safer, stronger and more secure laboratory,” the officials said in a statement yesterday (Jennifer Talhelm, Associated Press, Dec. 19).
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