LANL fine is largest in history of DOE
Way to go Charlie and Terry! If you must be fined, make it the largest in history. After all, everything at LANL is top of the list.
"The NMED, in announcing the penalties, found a combined 37 violations committed by LANL and WIPP. For those violations, the NMED levied a $54 million penalty — approximately $36.6 million based on the violations found at LANL.
It was the largest-ever penalty imposed on the DOE.
“DOE now has an opportunity to learn from these mistakes and implement meaningful corrective actions that will ensure the long term viability” of LANL, a letter from the NMED to LANL and the Los Alamos Field office read in part.
On Feb. 14, a canister of waste ruptured in a storage room at WIPP. More than 20 workers were contaminated due to the rupture and the facility was forced to shut down."
http://www.lamonitor.com/content/udall-doe-fines-appropriate
8 comments:
"Way to go Charlie and Terry! If you must be fined, make it the largest in history. After all, everything at LANL is top of the list."
You got this right. There was going to be a fine as soon as the accident happened, but not of this size. In line with all historical fines, LANS could expect a hit of less than $10M for such an accident, and that is on Charlie's watch.
Then Charlie goes and assigns Terry to the case and all Hades breaks loose. The LANS board now must come up with $25M or so more to cover the fine. Terry's wild speculation and over-the-top presentations just reinforced the perception that LANL is being run by a corrupt group. He had zero individual scientific credibility remaining when it was over, and managed to drag the overall impression of LANL science down to a new low.
What a pair!
More like good job Congress! If UC were still running LANL, there would be a Congressional uproar over all the screw ups. Instead, you don't hear anything from DC. Chirp, chirp. Paid and bought by the BEchtel lobbyists. I remember how this new consortium was going to solve all the problems with "mismanagement." Better business systems, leaner/tighter run lab, experts in construction and nuclear facilities. What a joke.
December 10, 2014 at 7:02 PM
We cannot go back to UC, congress will rain down hell upon the labs the first chance they will get. The only thing we can do is try another LLC, but this time write a reasonable contract.
From competence and imagined errors under UC with little DC oversight to dangerous blunders under a private sector second team under heavy DC scrutiny.
The problem is DC. Not California.
Raises this year will have to be cut way back to help manage the huge fines. The eventual loss of legacy cleanup by LANS (to be turned over to another private company) will result in the loss of a huge amount of additional pension "taxes" that are tacked on to incoming funds, thus making the pension a shakier bet. Jobs, too will be lost with the transfer of legacy cleanup to another corporation.
Harder times are coming to the Hill.
To quote McMillan "Follow the money" is taking on a whole new meaning now that it's leaving McMillan's pocket instead of going in it!
McMillan should do everyone a favor by resigning before the holiday break rather than desperately clinging on until the bitter end.
At least LANL would have some small sense of a fresh start once the New Year begins.
December 10, 2014 at 3:08 PM
'Then Charlie goes and assigns Terry to the case and all Hades breaks loose. The LANS board now must come up with $25M or so more to cover the fine. Terry's wild speculation and over-the-top presentations just reinforced the perception that LANL is being run by a corrupt group. He had zero individual scientific credibility remaining when it was over, and managed to drag the overall impression of LANL science down to a new low.'
Don't be so hard on Terry, as he was just warming up for his next job as a guest on Mythbusters.
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