UPI
Monday, January 8, 2007
A watchdog group charges a nuclear warhead nearly exploded in
Texas when it was being dismantled at the government's Pantex
facility near Amarillo. The Project on Government Oversight says
it has been told by knowledgeable experts that the warhead nearly
detonated in 2005 because an unsafe amount of pressure was applied
while it was being disassembled, The Austin American-Statesman
reports.
The U.S. Energy Department fined the plant's operators $110,000
last month.
An investigator for Project on Government Oversight says the
weapon involved was a W-56 warhead with 100 times the destructive
power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The watchdog group says the problem was caused in part by technicians
at the plant being required to work up to 72 hours each week.
They released an anonymous letter, reportedly sent by Pantex
employees, warning that long hours and efforts to increase output
were causing dangerous conditions at the plant.
A spokesperson for the Energy Department declined to respond
to safety complaints in the letter.
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