U.S. Sen. Tom Udall questions Energy Secretary Rick Perry during a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee about steps LANL and the NNSA have taken to ensure safety and the future of the plutonium mission. Screenshot/LADP 
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall questions Energy Secretary Rick Perry during a hearing Wednesday about steps LANL and the NNSA have taken to ensure safety and the future of the plutonium mission. Screenshot/LADP U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — During a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees funding for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Sen. Tom Udall questioned Energy Secretary Rick Perry about steps Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have taken to ensure safety and the future of the plutonium mission at the lab.
In response to Udall’s questions, Perry acknowledged that the lab has made serious mistakes, but he said that he is confident that NNSA and DOE have taken appropriate steps to hold the lab and its contractor accountable and ensure the lab’s workers and plutonium mission are safe and on track.
In 2013, Los Alamos Lab paused plutonium pit production following compliance and safety concerns, which, along with other safety issues, have been detailed in recent news articles. Udall entered responses by both Los Alamos and NNSA into the subcommittee’s hearing record and asked Perry whether he believes the lab has corrected the infractions.
“In your opinion, and the opinion of DOE, is Los Alamos making acceptable progress to fix all identified issues with its plutonium pit program?” Udall asked, noting that the current contractor, Los Alamos National Security LLC (LANS), was fined, and that NNSA made a decision in late 2015 to terminate LANS’ contract as a result of the safety failures.
Perry responded that he believes the lab is “making significant progress.”
“The reviews are done, the ratings assessments were very deliberately and appropriately accomplished and [the pit program] has been brought back on line,” Perry said, adding that the Department of Energy is on schedule to meet the Department of Defense requirements for pit manufacturing.
Udall followed up, “Will DOE commit to make safety improvements and accountability key parts of the [management contract] rebid process?” Perry assured him that it will. “The safety of the operations at our labs — I don’t think anything is more important,” Perry said.
The following is Udall’s brief opening statement as prepared for delivery:
Thank you for your recent visit to New Mexico, including Los Alamos and Sandia national labs and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. Those visits raise the morale of those employees and let them know we appreciate the important job they’re doing for the nation.
For decades now, the stockpile stewardship program at the national labs has guaranteed the safety and reliability of the nation’s nuclear arsenal without testing. It has only improved with the advent of more sophisticated computing and other science-based methods.
The U.S. and Russia continue to reduce the number of nuclear weapons as part of New START, while we also work to ensure our remaining deterrent is safe, secure, and effective, a mission charged to DOE over two decades.
In 2013, Los Alamos paused plutonium pit production following compliance and safety concerns. A recent report was published in The Washington Post detailing safety issues, which have been covered well by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
Both Los Alamos National Lab and General Klotz have responded to these issues identifying the work they have done to correct the infractions, and I’d like to enter both the memo from Los Alamos and statement from General Klotz into the record.
See LANL response here.
See General Klotz response here.