http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=8669#comment-406416
12/17/2006
Did We Nearly Lose Texas In A Nuke Explosion?
Filed under:
* General
— Uncle Dave @ 5:00 am
Thar she blows!
OK, maybe that headline is a tad overblown given the size of Texas, but given most people have forgotten we have nukes sitting around the country it’s rather disconcerting that one could have accidentally blown up. Or that nuke bomb techs being overworked!
Mishap in dismantling nuclear warhead
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.
Well with folks working on things like that who needs terrorists!!
I also wonder how close to Amarillo that plant is? Why in the world don't they do that out in the desert?
Better yet why don't we dismantle them in the middle east somewhere?
Here's something else I found while looking for the population of Amarillo.