"Federal Study: U.S. Nuke Labs Unprepared for Catastrophe"

"The nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories are woefully unprepared to respond to emergencies, from small radiation leaks to large-scale disasters like the 2011 Fukushima meltdown in Japan, according to a sweeping new federal study.

The study, released this month by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, looked at 17 sites across the country over the last three years, including three in New Mexico — Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.

The report points to the three New Mexico sites as examples of various gaps in emergency readiness endemic throughout the nation’s nuclear defense system. The troubling assessment also comes as Energy and Defense department officials are considering sharply ramping up production of nuclear weapons components at Los Alamos and Sandia."

Patrick Malone reports for the Santa Fe New Mexican September 14, 2014.