Saturday, December 06, 2014

Mishaps at nuke repository [run by U. California and Bechtel] lead to $54 million in penalties

A repeat of an old story: the University of California (in a consortium with Bechtel and others, in this case) billing and getting paid for a service (here, safely handling nuclear waste), but not actually providing that service properly:


"[New Mexico's] Environment Department found New Mexico-based Los Alamos National Laboratory had committed two dozen violations of rules and regulations related to the packaging of plutonium wastes that later erupted in the underground dump near Carlsbad, N.M.

The incident badly contaminated the repository, resulting in a shutdown that will probably last two years."

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-mishaps-at-nuke-repository-lead-to-54m-in-fines-20141206-story.html