[CPEO-MEF] Livermore Labs (CA) plutonium

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Problems mount for Livermore plutonium handling facility

By Bob Brownne, San Joaquin News Service
Lodi News-Sentinel
April 23, 2005

The list of problems at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's
plutonium handling facility is getting longer, with the latest report by
a federal oversight agency noting that the radioactive material is often
stored in thin steel containers similar to paint or food cans.

The report last month by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
comes at a time when the lab is awaiting release of a final
environmental review that could authorize the lab to double the amount
of plutonium stored at the site and triple the amount that is handled on
a regular basis.

The report also follows the January shutdown of the plutonium handling
facility. Lab officials stopped work at the facility after the DNFSB
noted a variety of contamination problems.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory doesn't manufacture the
plutonium-239 pits used in nuclear weapons, but it does research and
develops manufacturing methods for the pits.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2005/04/23/news/8_lab_050423.txt

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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