AMARILLO, Texas - The National Nuclear Security Administration failed to complete scheduled nuclear safety studies for several nuclear stockpile weapons assembled or dismantled at the Texas Pantex Plant in west Texas, delaying some weapons work and potentially threatening plant safety, a government audit says.
But a top Pantex official said such studies are only part of a multilayered safety approach that uses new processes, standards and expert reviews to reduce or eliminate hazards in assembling or dismantling nuclear weapons. Nuclear security officials also defended Pantex's safety record and said Pantex is working to expedite its safety studies. In fact, Anthony R. Lane, the agency's associate administrator for management and administration, defended Pantex's safety record in a Nov. 22 memo.
"In summary, the safety record at Pantex has been exemplary; our strategy is reducing the safety risks even further. Safety improvements are, and always will be, a major goal," the memo states.
The audit, finished this month by the Energy Department's Office of Inspector General, found Pantex safety documentation incomplete and indicated that some Pantex nuclear explosives safety studies won't be completed until 2005.
Nuclear explosive safety studies, completed by independent teams of nuclear experts, identify potential hazards and ensure Pantex has adequate controls to prevent or mitigate a potential weapons accident.
"The work at Pantex is challenging, and the department must take positive measures to reduce the likelihood that accidental nuclear and high-explosive detonations could occur," the report states. "In this context, it is department policy that an approved nuclear explosive safety study be performed before any nuclear explosive operation is conducted."
Government standards require comprehensive nuclear explosives safety studies every five years, but some weapons in the U.S. stockpile will not have a comprehensive study for 11 to 16 years under current plans.
"The studies were overdue because required safety initiatives had not been fully implemented and safety basis documents, integral to the Nuclear Explosive Safety process, had not been completed," the audit found.
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