Oak Ridge Today

DOE inspector finds no evidence of cheating, but questions testimony

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Federal investigators found no evidence that WSI Oak Ridge tried to cheat on a test at the Y-12 National Security Comple this summer, but they also questioned the credibility of contractors who testified that there was no intent to cheat.

A copy of the test was found in a WSI Oak Ridge patrol vehicle on Aug. 29, one day before it was scheduled to be given to security guards. It was part of an inspection by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety and Security that followed the July 28 security breach at Y-12.

In a special report this month, U.S. Department of Energy Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman said the test, as well as answers to test questions, had been distributed to many WSI Oak Ridge employees, including captains, lieutenants, and security police officers, “the very people whose knowledge was to have been evaluated.” At best, Friedman said, the transmission, review, and distribution of the test demonstrated a lack of due care and negligence.

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Y-12 security breach ‘obvious dereliction of duty’

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Lawmakers criticized federal officials and contractors during congressional hearings this week on the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex, demanding to know who had been fired and who had been responsible for repairing critical cameras that didn’t work.

“This level of intrusion into the perimeter of a highly secure nuclear weapons facility is unprecedented—and it is completely unacceptable,” said Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who chairs the U.S. House Strategic Forces Subcommittee. “It is outrageous to think that the greatest threat to the American public from weapons of mass destruction may be the incompetence of Department of Energy security.”

Legislators took aim at federal officials and the “mind-boggling incompetence” of contractors. They wanted to know how an 82-year-old nun was able to reach the “Fort Knox” of uranium, a building inside a high-security area at Y-12 surrounded by fences and protected by alarms and cameras—and where deadly force is authorized.

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Y-12 camera didn’t work, hammering trespassers mistaken for maintenance

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Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility

Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (Photo courtesy of NNSA/B&W Y-12)

Note: This story was last updated at 10:40 p.m.

A special federal report published Wednesday documents alleged failures that allowed three anti-nuclear weapons activists to sneak into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, penetrate a high-security area, and spray-paint slogans and splash human blood on a building that stores bomb-grade uranium.

Among the findings: A critical security camera in an area penetrated by the protesters hadn’t worked for about six months, and guards assumed the trespassers were maintenance workers when they used hammers to beat on the walls of the uranium storage building, officially known as the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility.

The failures in the $150 million security system at Y-12, which has “long enjoyed a reputation as one of the most secure facilities in the United States,” raised serious questions, said the 18-page report by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inspector General.

“We identified troubling displays of ineptitude in responding to alarms, failures to maintain critical security equipment, over-reliance on compensatory measures, misunderstanding of security protocols, poor communications, and weaknesses in contract and resource management,” said the report, signed by Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman.

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