LOS ALAMOS COUNTY EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER PF-4

The chair of the Los Alamos County Council wrote to the National Nuclear Security Administration Tuesday expressing concerns about a new safety risk analysis made public by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in January. The Safety Board expressed concern about “the potential for very high offsite dose consequences” under a scenario in which a severe earthquake caused the collapse of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility, known as PF-4. “That language is very alarming to residents, our neighbors and me as an elected official,” wrote Geoff Rodgers, chair of the County Council. Rodgers expressed concern that budget problems might leave the NNSA unable to take the steps needed to upgrade the building to reduce the risk. “If the threat is as great as described in the letter,” Rodgers wrote in the letter to NNSA acting chief Neile Miller, “then the only satisfactory response is to address the threat even in this uncertain budget climate.”