Big Problems at Nuclear Pantex
February 21st, 2007
Isolated on 25 square miles of Texas prairie, Pantex served for over fifty years as the Dept. of Energy’s main nuclear weapons facility, building the atomic bombs that won the Cold War. Now used to dismantle old warheads, the factory is under investigation for multiple safety violations, some serious enough that the Defense Department has said it has lost confidence in the facility, the private firm that runs Pantex, and the entire Dept. of Energy.
Investigators allege that the plant’s managers, faced with budget cuts with the end of the Cold War, have skimped on maintenance and loosened safety restrictions while creating a work environment based on threats and humiliation: one X-Ray technician claims he was demoted to janitor after complaining about the threat of toxic beryllium dust. In another incident, workers misread instructions and used vinyl tape to secure a crack in the explosives of a hydrogen bomb. Most shockingly, the roof of Pantex leaks so badly that weapons are covered in plastic tarps when it rains.
The threat of an accidental explosion at Pantex are still minuscule (around 1 in 100 million) but every little violation raises the possibility of something truly catastrophic. Between a dilapidated Pantex, a rusting Hanford facility in Washington, and the boondoggle of Yucca Mountain, the Dept. of Energy needs to get its act together in a hurry.
Considering all these facts, this troubled me the most: if America can’t keep its nuclear arsenal together, I can’t even begin to imagine what’s going on in Russia.
Link to LA Times
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March 2nd, 2007 at 9:00 am
Oh, I don’t think you have to worry about Russia’s unloved nuclear arsenal. It’s already been sold off into the hands of those than want it much more badly and will love it as if they were their own.