Los Alamos lab’s security failures lead to environmental contamination with radioactive waste that could be used as dirty bomb materials by terrorists

In late September, radioactive material was stolen from an area at Los Alamos National Laboratory used to store contaminated waste, which included a band-saw 500 times the allowable limit for contamination. Now, many fear that the radioactive waste has been seized by terrorists to create a dirty bomb.

People who steal property from the lab tend to flee to their homes, garages or outbuildings, notes the federal court filing. In 2015, there were approximately 76 thefts of lab property by LANL personnel, according to the document. The Los Alamos Police Department has investigated 13 reported thefts from labs sprinkled throughout the region, including a contaminated storage yard.⁽¹⁾

Laboratories are a hot spot for terrorist activity. They contain the nuclear waste necessary to build a bomb. The FBI has been looking for ways to minimize this threat for years.⁽²⁾

Authorities narrow in on suspected perpetrator

The person suspected to be responsible for the latest lab sting has yet to be criminally charged, according to a record check. The materials were stolen from Technical Area 54, a waste management facility where waste is temporarily stored until it is shipped elsewhere. Another piece of property, known as Area G, is used to break large material into tiny pieces, during which the machinery used to break the material up becomes contaminated and is not allowed to leave the site.

Signs posted at both regions warn about radiation toxicity and advise visitors it is a controlled site that requires following certain procedures before leaving the area.

The statement was written by a special agent with the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General in Albuquerque, which is responsible for preventing and detecting fraud, waste and abuse in DOE programs and operations.

The search warrant states that the lab’s Investigative Services Team notified the OIG on Sept. 30 that a subcontractor’s employee had removed items. The employee had free access to both the technical area and Area G, and was in charge of making hourly inspections of waste drums to ensure internal temperatures did not get too high. The employee was training in hazardous waste operations, tritium safety, radiation worker and waste disposition critical safety fundamentals, and was receiving site-specific training, reports the Albuquerque Journal.⁽¹⁾

The Los Alamos Police Department received another larceny call the day before at the technical area, TA-18, where an eyewitness claimed to have seen a man tossing items from the trunk of his car into bushes on the side of the road. Los Alamos officers discovered a bandsaw, garden hose, Truefit gloves, screwdriver set and conduit – some of which were labeled “TA-54.”⁽¹⁾

Stolen radioactive material contaminates nearby community

The Los Alamos police promptly advised the radioactive control technicians to probe for contamination. Both the people and items at the site tested positive for alpha-emitting isotopes. Two people in the area  were rushed to the lab’s occupational health clinic for decontamination.

One person reported that the same infested gloves found in the LANL car had gone missing the week before. Investigators were granted a search warrant. On Oct. 7, the lab’s radiological assistance program analyzed the vehicle both inside and out. The analysis found contamination on the steering wheel, gear shift and passenger door, which registered 600 to 1,000 DPMs. To put this into perspective: the DOE release limit standard is 20 DPM, according to the written statement.⁽¹⁾

Among all the items surveyed, the bandsaw registered the highest, clocking in at a whopping 100,000 DPM.⁽¹⁾

The bandsaw contamination “may pose a serious health risk,” reads the affidavit. Authorities were granted permission from U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Yarbrough to investigate the home of the subcontractor employee who is suspected to have stolen the items. Thus far, no items have been removed from the subcontractor’s home.⁽¹⁾

Sources include:

(1) Abqjournal.com

(2) FBI.gov