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Security at U.S. nuclear sites criticized
RugerNiner
Member Posts: 12,636 ✭✭✭
By MARY MANNING - Las Vegas Sun
LAS VEGAS -- The Energy Department has cut the number of armed guards at the Nevada Test Site by almost 60 percent in the past decade and has done the same at other nuclear facilities, weakening security of nuclear materials, a Massachusetts congressman said.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., released a 22-page report Monday showing that between 1992 and 2001 the Energy Department trimmed the number of armed guards at the Test Site from 276 to 115 - a 58 percent drop - and the number of unarmed officers from 17 to four. "The Department of Energy, by its own admission, does not have adequate resources to provide security at these facilities," Markey said.
Markey said he was concerned with an overall 40 percent drop in security forces at Energy Department facilities nationwide since 1992, especially given the dangers illustrated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
The Energy Department said it took 90 minutes after the terrorist attacks to place all nuclear weapons across the country in safe havens.
The congressman said he fears that terrorists could build a dirty bomb at a nuclear weapons site such as Rocky Flats, near Denver, or steal materials to make a bomb elsewhere.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham reassured Markey in a May 3 letter that guards are being hired at a record pace since Sept. 11, which is not reflected in the congressman's study.
Security was scaled back as facilities shut down after the Cold War, but hundreds of guards have been hired since Sept. 11, Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said.
The total number of Test Site guards dropped 59 percent overall, said the report, titled "The Sum of All Fears: Security Gaps at Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Weapons Facilities."
The Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was the outdoor laboratory for U.S. nuclear weapons experiments from 1951 until 1992. Since the 1970s, it has become a storage site for low-level radioactive waste from nuclear defense activities around the country. Yucca Mountain, on its western edge, has been approved by President Bush and Congress as the nation's high-level nuclear waste repository.
Since 1998 the Test Site has conducted 17 subcritical experiments underground using radioactive materials that are blasted by high explosives, but do not create a nuclear chain reaction.
An assessment of the Energy Department's site at the Tonopah Test Range in central Nevada was not fully completed, the report said. However, of a total of 85 armed guards at the range in 1992, 50 remained on duty in 2001.
In addition, the report said that the Energy Department's Office of Transportation Safeguards, which moves weapons-grade uranium and plutonium between sites, failed six of seven force-on-force exercises in December 1998. Energy Department officials replied that follow-up exercises in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 "indicate that OTS is operating at low risk."
A total of 574 shipments of special nuclear materials has occurred since January 1999.
In March, the Energy Department twice asked the Bush administration for $379 million in emergency security funding.
"The department's remaining safeguards and security budgets are not sufficient to implement the security posture requirements that appropriately respond to the Sept. 11 attacks," Energy Department budget officer Bruce Carnes wrote in a letter to administration budget officials.
Although the administration requested just $26.7 million for this purpose, Congress appropriated $360 million. However, Bush decided last week to spend only the roughly $26 million initially sought.
Amy Call, spokeswoman of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the National Nuclear Security Administration already had received $653 million to protect nuclear facilities and shipments in the current year, a sharp increase from the $411 million spent on security throughout the Energy Department last year.
Markey said he plans to try to add $300 million to the energy and water appropriations bill when Congress returns in September.
Markey's report was based on more than 200 pages of documents the congressman requested from the Energy Department. Much of the material relating to security was kept secret and could not be released. The security cuts were included in unclassified materials.
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
LAS VEGAS -- The Energy Department has cut the number of armed guards at the Nevada Test Site by almost 60 percent in the past decade and has done the same at other nuclear facilities, weakening security of nuclear materials, a Massachusetts congressman said.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., released a 22-page report Monday showing that between 1992 and 2001 the Energy Department trimmed the number of armed guards at the Test Site from 276 to 115 - a 58 percent drop - and the number of unarmed officers from 17 to four. "The Department of Energy, by its own admission, does not have adequate resources to provide security at these facilities," Markey said.
Markey said he was concerned with an overall 40 percent drop in security forces at Energy Department facilities nationwide since 1992, especially given the dangers illustrated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
The Energy Department said it took 90 minutes after the terrorist attacks to place all nuclear weapons across the country in safe havens.
The congressman said he fears that terrorists could build a dirty bomb at a nuclear weapons site such as Rocky Flats, near Denver, or steal materials to make a bomb elsewhere.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham reassured Markey in a May 3 letter that guards are being hired at a record pace since Sept. 11, which is not reflected in the congressman's study.
Security was scaled back as facilities shut down after the Cold War, but hundreds of guards have been hired since Sept. 11, Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said.
The total number of Test Site guards dropped 59 percent overall, said the report, titled "The Sum of All Fears: Security Gaps at Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Weapons Facilities."
The Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was the outdoor laboratory for U.S. nuclear weapons experiments from 1951 until 1992. Since the 1970s, it has become a storage site for low-level radioactive waste from nuclear defense activities around the country. Yucca Mountain, on its western edge, has been approved by President Bush and Congress as the nation's high-level nuclear waste repository.
Since 1998 the Test Site has conducted 17 subcritical experiments underground using radioactive materials that are blasted by high explosives, but do not create a nuclear chain reaction.
An assessment of the Energy Department's site at the Tonopah Test Range in central Nevada was not fully completed, the report said. However, of a total of 85 armed guards at the range in 1992, 50 remained on duty in 2001.
In addition, the report said that the Energy Department's Office of Transportation Safeguards, which moves weapons-grade uranium and plutonium between sites, failed six of seven force-on-force exercises in December 1998. Energy Department officials replied that follow-up exercises in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 "indicate that OTS is operating at low risk."
A total of 574 shipments of special nuclear materials has occurred since January 1999.
In March, the Energy Department twice asked the Bush administration for $379 million in emergency security funding.
"The department's remaining safeguards and security budgets are not sufficient to implement the security posture requirements that appropriately respond to the Sept. 11 attacks," Energy Department budget officer Bruce Carnes wrote in a letter to administration budget officials.
Although the administration requested just $26.7 million for this purpose, Congress appropriated $360 million. However, Bush decided last week to spend only the roughly $26 million initially sought.
Amy Call, spokeswoman of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the National Nuclear Security Administration already had received $653 million to protect nuclear facilities and shipments in the current year, a sharp increase from the $411 million spent on security throughout the Energy Department last year.
Markey said he plans to try to add $300 million to the energy and water appropriations bill when Congress returns in September.
Markey's report was based on more than 200 pages of documents the congressman requested from the Energy Department. Much of the material relating to security was kept secret and could not be released. The security cuts were included in unclassified materials.
Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself!
Keep your Powder dry and your Musket well oiled.
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
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