Oak Ridge Today

Third Y-12 protester has detention hearing today, trial rescheduled

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Greg Boertje-Obed

Greg Boertje-Obed

The third protester who has remained in jail since a July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex has a detention hearing at 2 p.m. today in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

Greg Boertje-Obed had previously waived his right to a detention hearing, and he has remained jailed in Blount County. The other two anti-nuclear weapons activists, Megan Rice and Michael R. Walli, were freed Aug. 3.

Meanwhile, U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley has rescheduled the trial of the protesters to Feb. 26, 2013. The case will be tried before U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips.

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B&W Y-12 considering what information to release from ‘show cause’ response

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Note: This story was updated at 9:10 a.m.

Monday was the deadline for B&W Y-12 to respond to an Aug. 10 “show cause” letter from the National Nuclear Security Administration. That letter, which followed a July 28 security breach, gave the company 30 days to explain why its contract should not be terminated.

B&W Y-12 did not immediately release its response Monday.

“B&W Y-12 is determining whether we’ll be able to release information contained in the response,” the company said in a statement. “Additionally, it’s only appropriate to allow NNSA some time to consider the document before any content is released to the public.”

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WSI reassigns Y-12 security director after test questions found in patrol vehicle

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Note: This story was updated at 1:49 p.m. Sept. 6.

The new director of the protective force at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been reassigned after a federal inspector allegedly found papers in a patrol vehicle that included answers to a test scheduled to be given to guards as part of an investigation following an unprecedented July 28 security breach.

A U.S. Department of Energy official said the stack of papers found last week also included a copy of a test designed to quiz a random sample of a few dozen guards on policies and procedures, as well as a “post check” interview sheet. The “post checks” question security officers on procedures and performance tests, such as deploying gas masks. The papers were not supposed to be shared, said the DOE official, speaking on background.

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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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IG report finds ‘multiple system failures’ at Y-12, inept alarm responses

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The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inspector General has released a report on the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and it found “multiple system failures on several levels,” including ineptitude in responding to alarms, failures to maintain critical security equipment, misunderstanding of security protocols, and poor communications.

There was also an over-reliance on “compensatory measures,” and weaknesses in contract and resource management, said the 18-page report, released about one month after the security breach. In addition, “contractor governance and federal oversight failed to identify and correct early indicators of these multiple system breakdowns.

“When combined, these issues directly contributed to an atmosphere in which the trespassers could gain access to the protected security area directly adjacent to one of the nation’s most critically important and highly secured weapons-related facilities,” according to a summary of the report posted on the OIG website.

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Y-12 protesters ask federal judge to delay Oct. 10 trial

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Megan Rice and Michael R. Walli

Anti-nuclear weapons activists Megan Rice and Michael R. Walli leave U.S. District Court in Knoxville after an Aug. 9 arraignment on charges of trespassing, property depredation, and property destruction at the Y-12 National Security Complex. A third protester, Greg Boertje-Obed, remains jailed in Blount County.

Two anti-nuclear weapons activists arrested in July in a high-security area at the Y-12 National Security Complex have asked a federal judge to delay their trial date.

The protesters now face an Oct. 10 trial before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas W. Phillips in Knoxville.

But in motions filed Wednesday, two of the protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed and Megan Rice—said the evidence in the case is voluminous, and it involves significant and complex issues, including national security and First Amendment issues.

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Officials cancel plan to cut guards at Y-12

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A plan to cut up to 34 guard positions at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been canceled, a federal spokesman said Tuesday.

WSI Oak Ridge, which provides security at Y-12, no longer has the authority to restructure its staff since it is now a subcontractor reporting to B&W Y-12, rather than the National Nuclear Security Administration, said Steven Wyatt, public affairs manager for the NNSA Production Office in Oak Ridge. That change in reporting authority followed an unprecedented July 28 security breach at the plant, the nation’s main production facility for many nuclear weapons components.

The WSI plan had called for cutting a total of up to 52 jobs at Y-12 and the East Tennessee Technology Park. Employees were to be offered voluntary separations, and today was supposed to be the last work day for those who were accepted.

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Federal official says Y-12 security breach demands swift, strong action

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A rapid response was required after the unprecedented security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex last month, a federal official said this week.

And the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration have both taken aggressive steps to restore and enhance security at the plant, the nation’s main production facility for many nuclear weapons components, the official said.

“Secretary Chu has made clear that the security of our nation’s nuclear material is the department’s most important responsibility, and he has no tolerance for federal or contractor personnel who cannot or will not do their jobs,” DOE spokesman Damien LaVera said. “As the secretary has made clear, the recent incident at Y-12 was a completely unacceptable breach of security and an important wake-up call for our entire complex. The severity of the failure of leadership at Y-12 demands swift, strong, and decisive action by the department.”

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Corker: Y-12 security breach shows need for UPF, shouldn’t hurt employment

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U.S. Senator Bob Corker

Bob Corker

It was a “major wake-up call,” but last month’s security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex should not hurt employment or work in Oak Ridge, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said Thursday.

He said the intrusion by three anti-nuclear weapons activists into a high-security area at Y-12 actually demonstrates the need for a newer, more secure uranium processing facility, or UPF. There has been some concern in Oak Ridge about how the unprecedented security breach at Y-12 might affect funding or planning for the UPF, which could cost up to $6.5 billion and be the largest construction project in Tennessee history.

But Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said some Congressional representatives might actually want to act quicker now to build the UPF, which would consolidate enriched uranium operations at Y-12, including assembly and dismantlement work.

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Nuclear operations resume at Y-12 under greater federal oversight

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After a two-week “stand down,” nuclear operations resumed Wednesday at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

But there will now be more federal oversight of contractor operations, a National Nuclear Security Administration press release said. B&W Y-12 operates Y-12 for the NNSA.

“The authorization to resume operations was made possible through the completion of numerous improvements in security at Y-12 and completion of security training,” the press release said.

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Y-12 cameras weren’t working, guards failed to react, federal letter says

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Transform Now Plowshares

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists pictured above sneaked into a high-security area at the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28 and triggered a security crisis that has led to personnel changes, a temporary halt in nuclear operations, and a potential termination of a federal contract with B&W Y-12. From left to right, the three protesters are Michael R. Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (Submitted photo)

Note: This story was last updated at 9:32 a.m. Aug. 15.

Many security cameras weren’t working when three anti-nuclear weapons activists sneaked into the Y-12 National Security Complex early in the morning on Saturday, July 28, a federal official said in a critical letter released Tuesday evening.

One of those cameras was near a fence penetrated by the protesters, who allegedly used bolt-cutters to slice through three fences before they walked to a high-security building known as the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

The intruders, who allegedly spray-painted slogans and splashed human blood on the HEUMF, set off many alarms in a “multi-layered sensor system” in a fence line, but the Y-12 protective force failed to react, the official said.

When guards alerted by the alarms responded with a vehicle patrol, it took them too long to arrive at the scene, and once there, they “failed to take appropriate steps to take control of the situation,” said the official, National Nuclear Security Administration Contracting Officer Jill Y. Albaugh. She said a responding supervisor finally took control and removed the protesters.

Written Friday, Albaugh’s letter gives Babcock and Wilcox Technical Services Y-12, the plant’s managing and operating contractor, 30 days to show why the federal government should not proceed to terminate its contract.

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NNSA changes security contract competition, including at Y-12

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As the fallout from a July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex continues to roil the plant, federal officials announced Monday they have canceled part of a proposal to combine protective force services at Y-12, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office, and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.

The current contract competition will be revised to remove the National Nuclear Security Administration’s portion of the protective force services from the solicitation, according to an NNSA announcement. That includes the part of the contract competition that would provide protective force operations at Y-12 and Pantex.

The security services, or protective force operations, are now expected to be included in a consolidated management and operating contract covering both Pantex and Y-12.

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