Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 29, 1990 TAG: 9003290315
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-7 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The projected timetable, which Watkins admitted was ambitious, aroused skepticism from some members of the House Armed Services defense nuclear subcommittee, who also expressed concern that the expedited schedule might give short shrift to safety concerns.
"I don't see how we can start up so fast," said Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo.
But Watkins said that the production of tritium at the Savannah River plant in South Carolina and reprocessing of plutonium at Rocky Flats in Colorado would have resumed two months ago, were it not for his heightened concern for safety.
Watkins said he was imposing a margin of safety that would be "significantly greater" than that in place at the time the two facilities were shut down.
The Department of Energy has been unable to assemble nuclear weapons at various times over the last several years because many of its vital facilities have been taken out of commission because of concerns about worker safety, mismanagement and environmental contamination. The department runs 17 contractor-operated facilities in 12 states.
Watkins assured the panel that the department would not resume operations at either Rocky Flats or Savannah River until it received the endorsement of two oversight committees: the Watkins-appointed Advisory Committee on Nuclear Facility Safety and the congressionally-mandated Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, whose members are named by President Bush.
"What we'll do is look at how adequate the progress has been to solving the problems, and we'll give our frank assessment," John Ahearne, chairman of the advisory committee and ex-chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in a separate interview Wednesday.
Savannah River is the sole producer of tritium, a gaseous, radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is needed to enhance the explosive power of nuclear warheads. The three reactors at the Aiken, S.C., facility have been closed for nearly two years.
Watkins said Wednesday that he planned to have one reactor back on line in the final quarter of this year and the other two in 1991.
Rocky Flats, just outside Denver, makes plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons. It has been closed since December, supposedly for routine maintenance.
But it has not reopened because of continuing safety and environmental concerns, as well as the need to give the new contractor, EG&G of Wellesley, Mass., time to install its management team.
The continuing problems at Rocky Flats are threatening the deployment of various nuclear weapons, most immediately the Navy's $62 billion Trident submarine program.
by CNB