Nuke facilities still don't stand up to security tests

Feb 18, 2004 12:00 PM

           

Security at two U.S. nuclear weapons facilities was breached at least three times in mock terrorist drills despite heightened concerns after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a report on CBS news show "60 Minutes."
Security measures failed at the Y-12 nuclear complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and at Los Alamos National Laboratory near Albuquerque, the report says.
The scheduled tests showed long-standing security problems had not been adequately addressed despite the new terrorism risk, Richard Levernier, a former senior DOE nuclear security specialist, said.
A spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration said the news release for the segment was "misleading." "Our nuclear materials are secure and it's irresponsible to suggest otherwise," spokesman Anson Franklin told The Associated Press, adding: "These tests are designed to find vulnerabilities before someone else does ... it's wrong to suggest that terrorists could easily penetrate security at these sites."
Levernier said there was a 50 percent failure rate in the tests of factories and laboratories he conducted.

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