Tool Thefts from Lab ‘Hot Zones’ Raise Concerns About Security, Health Risks
Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 11:00 pm | Updated: 12:15 am, Wed Dec 17, 2014.
By Patrick Malone, The New Mexican
Tools
that may have been exposed to radioactive contamination vanished from a
secure area of Los Alamos National Laboratory earlier this year in a
series of thefts that raise questions about lab security.
Between
May and August, the lab reported tools stolen on at least three
occasions from Technical Area 54, the largest waste disposal zone on the
lab’s sprawling hilltop campus. LANL holds more than 100 contaminated
sites from years of storing waste generated during development of
nuclear weapons.
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17 comments:
Such bad news today will be blamed on LANS, but this behavior has been around at LANL since the UC days. Read the entire article linked below, and understand that such issues generated significant Congressional attention under UC.
Nothing new here, just business as usual at LANL.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/tool-thefts-from-lab-hot-zones-raise-concerns-about-security/article_5220eb35-35d3-5f9a-80a7-0ed3a8106a7c.html
It's always, always, always about Los Alamos, the people who brought us both LANS and LLNS and turned Congress against UC. Cowboy culture still rules there.
Tool theft has been a problem for years at LANL...very impoverished communities near by and Los Alamos is a gold mine.
"It's the day-in and day-out safety, health, security issues at LANL" Vic Reis, 1997
Nothing has changed at LANL, even the Becthelians can't fix.
"It's the day-in and day-out safety, health, security issues at LANL" Vic Reis, 1997
Nothing has changed at LANL, even the Becthelians can't fix.
December 17, 2014 at 7:24 PM
Oh no, it is time to surrender no one can save LANL, therefore no one can save LLNL. NNSA is just the same or less thna SONY we must give up, the cowboy culture wins, Pete Nanos has failed, we have let the scientist win...what have we become we are a sad and broken people. No Interview on Dec 25 is like letting LANSs lose the contract...no please God no.
"It's the day-in and day-out safety, health, security issues at LANL" Vic Reis, 1997
Nothing has changed at LANL, even the Becthelians can't fix.
December 17, 2014 at 7:24 PM
This quote by Dr. Vic Reis is pivotal and indicates the legacy, ongoing, and current problems at the Labs, particularly at LANL. We don't need another assessment of the Labs. When is this problem going to be solved, and by whom? Anybody?
Good grief, LANL has tools stolen and the NewMexican make this a front page story. Here an interesting article:
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4657-employee-theft-rising.html
to put this in perspective. Compared to this, LANL employee are very honest.
And then the thing about contaminated; typical NewMexican; you mention radioactivity and the sky is falling.
The biggest danger to anybody's health is if someone swallows the weedtrimmer.
And of course it is all in the culture. Well maybe that is true, reading the above mentioned article makes the whole US a nation of thieves.
Maybe we can solve two mysteries at once here.
The weed wacker was not stolen, instead it was dropped into a waste repacking drum by accident. The drum went to WIPP and, after a period of time, the weed wacker auto-sarted. This sudden rotation triggered an unplanned stirring of the kitty litter inside the drum, and the explosion cascaded outward.
Mystery of the missing LANL weed wacker: solved.
Mystery of the exploding LANL waste drum in WIPP: solved.
You must admit, this explanation makes a whole lot more sense than most of the wild possibilities that were spun by Wallace. And it didn't cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to develop.
4:53 AM is up early today spinning for LANL.
The comparison has a major flaw, in that the theft was at LANL inside a fenced compound, with security all around, and requires a photo badge just to get inside the gate.
Why should we expect otherwise? The Director gets multimillion per year and the thieves likely were $40 per hour starting wage workers just trying to make ends meet. They see Charlie's million dollar mansion and how the Lab is going downhill, and start to wonder what is wrong with a little five finger discount at the end of each shift, on the way back home to the trailer park.
What is the tool-theft rate at LLNL? Hint: Zero is as improbable as ignition on NIF.
Bet that didn’t reduce the Bechtel Award!
Why is everyone assuming these tools were stolen by the staff and/or support staff? LANS Management needs presents for themselves and their kids too. Times are tough these days for LANS!
December 18, 2014 at 10:01 AM
You claim I am a Lab defender; pure BS. In my opinion, there are lots of things wrong with the Lab, management and also the people. This is just normal for a large operation like this. I actually work there
You clearly have no idea about how the lab work and don't work there. Otherwise you would know that to get in any place you need a photo badge and there is security around you. You want to strip search people when they leave?
And cameras, no that is a big deterrent. Just look up store thefts numbers for Wal Mart and then show me one which does not have a camera.
But it makes a much better story: Lanl got tools stolen. How about the spill in Y12? Those are real news, but they don't interest you since you are after LANL.
Nothing like LLNL exit searches, totally random based upon numbers selected from a dice. Curious that this random number is aligned with blonde females driving convertibles!!! LLNL loves to conduct entrance searches (looking for...??)to prevent the return of stolen tools, computers etc. I jest. But, exit searches are virtually non-existent. Check it out.
What do you expect from a place where even a guard can "loose" his gun while on duty?
Kleptomaniacs run wild!
12$ of worthless scrap...hooiee. My morning constitutional wastes more money than fhis...and has a higher alpha count
I guess there are no Harbor Freights in New Mexico. Best place to buy medium quality cheap tools. Also a favorite place for LLNL retirees to hank out (with all the non-English speaking worker types).
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