Report questions LANL nuke production
Political change isn't the only challenge New Mexico's national labs are facing. Federal investigators released a report Monday underscoring the uncertain future of Los Alamos National Laboratory's nuclear weapons mission.
The General Accountability Office concluded that that the National Nuclear Security Administration has significantly underestimated the cost of producing plutonium bomb cores at the lab and that NNSA's long-term strategy for pit production is in "a state of flux." GAO investigators also found that LANL lacks adequate lab, storage and waste handling facilities to expand its pit production capability "for the foreseeable future."
During the Cold War, pits were manufactured at the now defunct Rocky Flats Plant near Denver. That facility closed in 1989 amid environmental concerns, and NNSA has been working to re-establish the country's ability to make plutonium pits at LANL. The agency had estimated that between 2001 and 2007 it would cost about $1.5 billion to get pit production rolling at LANL, and NNSA said it achieved that goal -- producing 11 pits last year -- for $260 million less than its $1.5 billion estimate. But GAO investigators found that NNSA's estimate did not include more than $1 billion in costs for a number of pit manufacturing-related activities.
NNSA, which has been pushing a new plan to increase LANL's now modest manufacturing capability, disputes the suggestion that it low-balled its pit production estimate and issued a statement Monday saying "we are very proud of meeting the significant challenge of manufacturing these replacement pits, which we did within budget and ahead of schedule." NNSA says that the additional costs GAO investigators cite would be incurred with or without pit production, because they're required for lab work unrelated to pit production.
The agency's formal response is included in Monday's report, which comes as Congress mulls the Bush administration's 2009 funding requests for LANL and the country's nuclear weapons program. The GAO's findings probably won't help NNSA's cause. GAO investigators concluded that while NNSA achieved its major goals for reestablishing pit production at LANL, the agency's long-term goals for the key weapon component keep changing and remain unclear.
Comments:
Posted 06/05/2008 11:10 with
If we are ever going to shed the “voodoo science” that seems to be the new coin of NNSA and LANL, we must start with accounting, and getting our facts straight.
While the LANL and nukes are under DOE, it would be difficult to argue that functionally pits are energy, rather than defense, related.
As far as DOD is concerned, despite a law mandating that DOD be audited by an independent auditor, and the results reported to the public, this law is essentially ignored.
So we get auditor’s statements like:
“We did not perform tests of DOD compliance with multiple statutory requirements to
report on the status of financial management systems. The Under Secretary of Defense
(Comptroller) acknowledged that many DOD financial management systems did not comply
with Federal financial systems requirements, Federal accounting standards, and the U .S.
Government Standard General Ledger at the transaction level. Prior audits support the
Department conclusions”
But those of us who have been trying to make “good faith” sense of LANL accounting are used to these dismissive statements, accustomed to spokespersons hiding under the skirts of secrecy and national security, saying “the president is king and says we don’t have to comply” so… nah nah nah ...yaddity yaddity.
So when, exactly will the public wake up to this scam, and insist that SOMEONE define exactly what security is, and how these new pits could conceivably contribute to that.
Until then the LANL folks will continue to steal from the public, claiming that their salaries are BENEFITS to northern New Mexico, rather than the COSTS they are. New Mexicans, will continue to support these millionaire freeloaders, and are expected to be so gullible as to thankful for having to work longer and harder.
But, I for one, am ready to loosing patience in helping these folks find productive work, and transition so as not to impose hardships on their families. But perhaps I.I. Rabi was right when he stated, “The only way to transform LANL is with a bulldozer”.
Anyway, thanks John Arnold, for being a rare voice in NM for a reality based science.