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This BLOG is for LLNL present and past employees, friends of LLNL and anyone impacted by the privatization of the Lab to express their opinions and expose the waste, wrongdoing and any kind of injustice against employees and taxpayers by LLNS/DOE/NNSA. The opinions stated are personal opinions. Therefore, The BLOG author may or may not agree with them before making the decision to post them. Comments not conforming to BLOG rules are deleted. Blog author serves as a moderator. For new topics or suggestions, email jlscoob5@gmail.com

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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Uh - Oh, POGO is back!

Anonymously contributed: Uh - Oh, POGO is back! "One of the nation’s main nuclear weapons labs has sharply underestimated the amount of radiation that could leak from the facility as a result of an earthquake, according to a federal advisory panel. The radiation could be more than four times as intense as the Los Alamos National Laboratory predicted in a safety analysis last year, according to a recent report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The New Mexico laboratory’s analysis included “multiple, substantial deficiencies,” wrote Peter S. Winokur, chairman of the advisory board. The higher estimate calls for “additional safety controls” and “prompt action,” he added. The report’s findings raise questions about the safety and reliability of Los Alamos, which says its work includes ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Analyses like the one in question “are fundamental elements for ensuring safe operations at defense nuclear facilities,” Winokur wrote. The Los Alamos facility is near geologic fault lines that show signs of past quakes, according to a 2007 “seismic hazard analysis” performed for the laboratory. The advisory board’s findings come at a time when nuclear weapons laboratories, which are managed for the government by private contractors, are pushing for greater freedom from oversight. " --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/07/by-mia-steinle-one-of-the-nations-main-nuclear-weapons-labs-has-sharply-underestimated-the-amount-of-radiation-that-could.html

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, it sure didn't take long after Mike left to get LANL back on the masthead of POGO. It had been a nice five year run of absence. Oh well, all things must end sometime.

Anonymous said...

The DNFSB finally found a "hole" and they are going to use this for everything it is worth, including justifying their existence. Fact is, they have no influence, other than sending "threatening" letters to Secretary Chu which are promptly "tossed".

Anonymous said...

omg - we need to close the lab asap.

Anonymous said...

so what? After the EQ prompt damage and injuries are taken care of, you isolate any leaked material using the gazillion rad detectors on site and then the myriad of well-paid haz mat folks clean up and dispose of the hot dirt and actually earn the stand by pay they recieve daily.

Its not like a reactor needs to be safed and cleaned up. This is just mildly radioactive material released after a very unlikely major natural disaster.

No big deal. No deaths, just a lot of "chicken little" fear of the dark.

Anonymous said...

4x zero is still zero. On the other hand real money is being pissed away to satisfy the irrational and self-interested egos of POGO and the DNSFB. Truly wasteful.

Anonymous said...

Oversite needs to stay more then ever before since we are now under the most expensive private contractors one can find. Now one lab cost 10 X more to operate with 2000 less people than it was under UC and the employee had their throats cut in the process. I say, give more oversite and lock them down tigher than ever before.

Anonymous said...

Wrong. Lean operations are required. Meet the requirements. Lower compensation. Eliminate the unnecessary, including oversight.

Times are different. We need workers not looky-loos who watch others.

Can't afford public interest intervenors any more. Lower expectations are the new norm.

Anonymous said...

Lean six sigma is a myth put forth by do nothings who measure nothing and know nothing.

Anonymous said...

This little nugget from the BP oil spill investigation looks like it might just fit right in with the ongoing events.


'Reducing lost time for workers and making sure they wear the right kind of boot is important, "but that really doesn't have much to do with system safety," said former Navy Secretary and now engineering professor Donald Winter, who chaired the National Academy of Engineering investigation. "It is fundamentally different." '

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/gulf-oil-spill-deepwater-horizon-2010_n_1696972.html

Anonymous said...

But, but, but, 8:41 am... I thought LANS motto to "Don't slip, wear shoes that GRIP!" on online training on how to walk up and down stairs was the essence of running a safe and secure nuclear research lab? I'm confused.

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