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United States: Energy Prepares to Move Weapon-Grade Materials By David McGlinchey A former Energy official criticized the length of time it has taken to reach this stage, however, saying the process should have been completed in early 2001. Completing the impact statement clears the way for two metric tons of weapon-grade materials and components to be relocated from the Los Alamos site known as Technical Area 18, National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Bryan Wilkes said. Most of the scientists involved with TA-18 will not move to Nevada but will travel there periodically to work at the site, he said. Cost and security considerations prompted the move, Wilkes said (see GSN, Aug. 12). Nearby Nellis Air Force Base allows military aircraft to patrol the area, Wilkes said, and officials plan to house the relocated material in the Test Site’s 1990s-built Device Assembly Facility — which is new compared to the 1940s-era facilities at Los Alamos. “The Nevada Test Site is one of the most secure, if not the most secure place in the country,” Wilkes said. “It was built with security in mind.” Move Overdue The recently completed impact statement was originally due in December 2000, said Pete Stockton, former special assistant to Clinton administration Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. Stockton now works for the Project on Government Oversight, a private government watchdog group. A plan had been put in place by April 2000 to make the move within nine months, he said. “We absolutely have to be out of there as soon as possible,” he said. Mock attacks on the facility have made its vulnerability apparent for years, Stockton said. In 1997, U.S. Army Special Forces made their way into the facility with a garden cart purchased from Home Depot “and left with enough nuclear material to make an atom bomb,” according to project documents (see GSN, Oct. 5, 2001). Another test of the facilities defenses in October 2000 showed similar weaknesses, Stockton said. For example, the Los Alamos facility was built at the bottom of a canyon so the canyon walls would absorb radiation produced at the facility. This location — surrounded by uncontrolled higher ground — has made upgrading security extremely difficult, according to Stockton. Stockton said he is now concerned that deputy NNSA administrator Everet Beckner will not have full support for the move within the security administration, slowing the process. “We felt it couldn’t be defended,” Stockton said of Los Alamos. This security lapse is confusing, he said, considering the worldwide rush to secure nuclear stockpiles. “It is interesting how critical we are of the Russians.”
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