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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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070389
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07038900.078
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1990-09-22
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NATION, Page 18Dangerous Mind-SetSloppiness may be a habit at nuclear-weapons plants
For 40 years the nation's nuclear weaponry has provided enough
security to allow Americans to sleep better at night. But there is
now chilling evidence that the custodians of the nation's atomic
arsenal have all the while also kept their eyes closed -- not in
sleep but in egregious disregard for safety. Drawing on three years
of investigations, the oversight subcommittee of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee last week disclosed patterns of sloppy
operation, arrogant indifference and willful deception in the
management of the country's 17 major nuclear-weapons facilities.
The result of years of mismanagement plus the estimated $130
billion needed to repair the situation: "a crisis of the highest
order."
The Department of Energy owns the plants, and private
corporations operate them. During the Reagan Administration, the
report said, Energy Secretary John S. Herrington inadvertently
encouraged unsafe practices with a "buddy bonus system" and a
"mind-set" that rewarded production over safety. An unidentified
executive who "allowed health and safety to deteriorate" received
a big cash bonus, and was praised as an "outstanding manager and
leader" by Herrington's Under Secretary Joseph Salgado.
Coming even as the Justice Department is pursuing a criminal
investigation of practices at the Rocky Flats, Colo.,
nuclear-weapons plant, the report sketched a variety of lapses.
Many were not disclosed, said Democratic Representative John D.
Dingell of Michigan, committee and subcommittee chairman, because
of "obsessive secrecy." Among them:
In one Savannah River reactor, the only fire-fighting equipment
was a garden hose. Managers left the sprinkler system off in
another unit for fear that if activated it might get computers and
records wet.
At the Hanford, Wash., plutonium finishing plant, managers
turned off radiation alarms because high winds sometimes set them
off.
Workers used illegal drugs at the most sensitive facilities:
Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos and
Hanford.
Responding, a DOE spokeswoman said new Energy Secretary James
Watkins knows of the abuses and is determined to remedy them. Ever
since taking office Watkins has admitted that changing the DOE
mind-set may not be as easy as "changing the equipment used in the
plants.