These clowns expect us to believe them when they tell us DU is SAFE?
Hajja Romi


From Eric Fiegel and Kathy Benz
CNN


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The nation's three nuclear weapons laboratories have had
almost 60 serious accidents or near misses in the past seven years, according to
a report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office.

An explosion at Los Alamos in 2002 sent debris into the air with
enough force to knock out a piece of wall.





It blames "a relatively lax attitude toward safety procedures" which has
created "an environment where workers can become complacent about following
safety requirements, and managers about enforcing them, raising the potential
for accidents."

The GAO reviewed almost 100 reports from Los Alamos in New Mexico, Lawrence
Livermore in California and Sandia which has campuses in both California and New
Mexico. All are nuclear weapons laboratories that handle extremely dangerous
materials like plutonium.

These three facilities are overseen by the National Nuclear Security
Administration.
The report cited "weaknesses in identifying safety problems and taking
appropriate corrective actions," and a lack of oversight by the NNSA for many of
the problems.
"The NNSA weapons laboratories, which conduct important but potentially
dangerous research, have experienced persistent safety problems despite years of
effort to make the laboratories safer," the GAO report concluded.

Some of the accidents have caused "serious harm to workers or damage to
facilities," the report said.

These included worker exposure to radiation, inhalation of toxic vapors and
electrical shocks. While the accidents resulted in no deaths, they did
contribute to the temporary shutdown of facilities at Los Alamos in 2004 and
Lawrence Livermore in 2005.

Read the report

One accident of concern took place at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New
Mexico in 2000, when seven workers were exposed to "significant doses of
radiation" when a piece of equipment failed.

Four of the seven required immediate medical help, according to the report.
Poor worker communication and training contributed to the accident, which took
place because the laboratory did not take corrective action after other similar
accidents, the report said.

That mishap "ranked among the top 10 worst radiological intake accidents in 41
years of data gathering by the DOE (Department of Energy) and its predecessor
agencies," according to the report.

Also at Los Alamos in 2002, liquid chlorine dioxide unexpectedly formed and
exploded during an experiment, sending debris into the air with enough force to
knock out piece of wall and ceiling.

Two researchers working on the experiment escaped death or serious injury when
one of them noticed temperatures rising in the equipment, and both fled the
room. The accident was caused by not implementing existing safety requirements,
the report said.

In another incident, a package containing radioactive material was shipped
from one part of Los Alamos to another, but no warnings were visible on the
package.
A worker opened it, exposing himself and ultimately others -- both at work and
at home -- because the contamination was not discovered for 11 days.
Additionally, some non-radioactive parts the worker touched and contaminated
were shipped to Pennsylvania.

The GAO noted that NNSA has taken some steps to improve the safety situation
at the laboratories, but "ineffective implementation" of safety guidelines has
continued to contribute to accidents.

"Given the persistent nature of safety problems at the laboratories, it
appears that either the identification of the underlying causes or the
corrective actions taken have been inadequate," the report said.

The GAO made several recommendations for improvement, including an annual
report to Congress "on progress toward making the weapons laboratories safer,
including the status and effectiveness of safety improvement initiatives, using
outcome-based performance measures."

The NNSA said it "generally agrees" with the GAO's findings, but believes its
safety record has been "favorably impressive" and its oversight of safety
procedures "excellent."

One of the congressmen who requested the report said he expects conditions at
the labs will improve.

"Now that the National Nuclear Security Administration realizes the persistent
safety problems associated with our national weapons laboratories, it is my hope
that these problems will be corrected in a timely manner, and that employees at
the laboratories will have a safer environment to work in," said Rep. Ed
Whitfield, R-Kentucky.




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