On December 3, 2012, official letters and correspondence termed “executive communications” addressed to the U.S. House of Representatives were taken from the speaker’s table and referred to various committees.
These included some that were specifically defense related.
One letter in particular caught my attention. It dealt with safety issues at operating defense nuclear facilities in the United States, which were termed “significant.”
“8535. A letter from the Chairman, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, transmitting third periodic Report to Congress: Summary of Significant Safety-Related Infrastructure Issues at Operating Defense Nuclear Facilities; to the Committee on Armed Services.”
Note: This document contains information relating to what it terms, “significant safety related infrastructure issues” (source: Congressional Record http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2012-12-03/pdf/CREC-2012-12-03.pdf ).
These “issues” raised in the letter presupposes a presumed threat to the health or safety to the employees working at the defense facilities or to the public (or both) , which may or may not be public information at this time.
All “Defense Nuclear Facilities” fall under the ownership and jurisdiction of the Department of Energy, according to a DOE website (source: http://www.dnfsb.gov/about/where-we-work/doe-defense-nuclear-facilities ).
They include the following facilities:
1) The Hanford site in Richmond Washington.
2) Fernald Closure project in 18 miles northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio.
3) Idaho National Laboratory Idaho Falls, ID.
4) Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
5) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA.
6) Miamisburg Environmental Management Project in Miamisburg, OH.
7) Nevada National Security Site, 75 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada.
8) The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
9) The Pantex Ordnance Plant in Amarillo, Texas.
10) Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site in Denver, CO.
11) Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM.
12) Savannah River Site in Aiken, SC
13) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, NM.
14) West Valley Demonstration Project in Buffalo, NY.
The safety issues cited in the letter are believed to pertain to one or more of these 14 facilities.