Watchblog

Watchblog

Obama’s New Budget Increases Funding for Nuclear Weapons Production Facilities; Cuts Dismantlements

In the new budget request for 2011 the Obama Administration proposes to freeze discretionary domestic spending for programs such as education, nutrition, air traffic control and national parks for three years while dramatically increasing funding for new US nuclear weapons production facilities. Meanwhile the proposed budget for dismantling warheads retired from the stockpile is down...Continue reading

Lab’s Cyber Security Still Not Trustworthy

A GAO Report released Friday the 13th found that “significant information security control weaknesses remain on LANL’s classified computer network. LANL had vulnerabilities in several critical areas, including (1) identifying and authenticating the identity of users, (2) authorizing user access, (3) encrypting classified information, (4) monitoring and auditing compliance with security policies, and (5) maintaining...Continue reading

Complete excavation of Area G now estimated at only $9.1 billion

Q: How much does it cost to cleanup a 65-acre, 50-year-old,  nuclear weapons laboratory unlined dump full of low-level radioactive waste (LLW), radioactively contaminated infectious waste, asbestos contaminated material, transuranic waste, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and much more? A: About 8 years of the Lab’s nuclear weapons activities budget. First, define cleanup. (Closure is the better...Continue reading

Hikers, dogs found inside the fence

Summary Report of Occurrences Reviewed From October 26 – 30, 2009 Near Miss – • NA – Los Alamos National Laboratory (Significance Category 3). On October 22, a Water Quality sampling crew discovered two hikers with three dogs at Technical Area 68 (TA-68) during High Explosive (HE) Operations. The hikers were instructed to exit DOE...