Nuclear Negligence
Nuclear Negligence
Nuclear Negligence examines safety weaknesses at U.S. nuclear weapon sites operated by corporate contractors. The Center’s probe, based on contractor and government reports and officials involved in bomb-related work, revealed unpublicized accidents at nuclear weapons facilities, including some that caused avoidable radiation exposures. It also discovered that the penalties imposed by the government for these errors were typically small, relative to the tens of millions of dollars the NNSA gives to each of the contractors annually in pure profit. How we got this story »
Part One
A near-disaster at a federal nuclear weapons laboratory takes a hidden toll on America’s arsenal
Repeated safety lapses hobble Los Alamos National Laboratory’s work on the cores of U.S. nuclear warheads
Part Two
Safety problems at a Los Alamos laboratory delay U.S. nuclear warhead testing and production
A facility that handles the cores of U.S. nuclear weapons has been mostly closed since 2013 over its inability to control worker safety risks
Part Three
Light penalties and lax oversight encourage weak safety culture at nuclear weapons labs
Explosions, fires, and radioactive exposures are among the workplace hazards that fail to make a serious dent in private contractor profits
Part Four
More than 30 nuclear experts inhale uranium after radiation alarms at a weapons site are switched off
Most were not told about it until months later, and other mishaps at the Nevada nuclear test site followed
Part Five
Repeated radiation warnings go unheeded at sensitive Idaho nuclear plant
The inhalation of plutonium by 16 workers is preceded and followed by other contamination incidents but the private contractor in charge suffers only a light penalty
Part Six
Nuclear weapons contractors repeatedly violate shipping rules for dangerous materials
Los Alamos laboratory’s recent mistakes in shipping plutonium were among dozens of incidents involving mislabeled or wrongly shipped materials associated with the nuclear weapons program
Senator cites Center for Public Integrity probe in questioning safety practices of weapons contractors
McCaskill letter challenges a federal agency’s commitment to safety oversight and enforcement
Los Alamos laboratory director announces he will step down
Charles McMillan, who presided over controversial missteps and higher budgets, says he will retire at year’s end
Energy undersecretary wants nuclear safety reports hidden from public
Independent watchdog agency entertained the idea
Chairman of nuclear weapons oversight agency steps down amid internal turmoil
Morale plummeted after Republican Sean Sullivan proposed to Trump that the agency — a frequent target of defense contractors — be shuttered