[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION: Citizen Action Sues NNSA for Sandia Labs (NM) Documents

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dave McCoy <dave@radfreenm.org>
> Subject: News Release:  Citizen Action Sues NNSA
> Citizen Action New Mexico
> November 22, 2013
>
>
> ALBUQUERQUE — Citizen Action New Mexico is suing the National  
> Nuclear Security  Agency (NNSA) under the Freedom of Information  
> Act for withholding documents related to the safety of nuclear  
> operations at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New  
> Mexico. NNSA is the semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency within  
> the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
>
> Citizen Action's lawsuit was filed November 22, 2013 in federal  
> court in Albuquerque.  The law offices of Nancy Simmons filed the  
> lawsuit on behalf of Citizen Action.
>
> The suit alleges that the NNSA has withheld documents and work  
> papers for over two years about whether the nuclear reactors at  
> Sandia have experienced shutdowns, accidents or violated safety  
> regulations. The FOIA requires federal agencies to respond in 20  
> days.  The lawsuit alleges a continuing pattern and practice of  
> wrongful delay by the NNSA to violate the Freedom of Information Act.
>
> Dave McCoy, executive director for Citizen Action, stated that  
> “Sandia deliberately withheld the documents for over 2 years to  
> hide them from the public during the federal Defense Nuclear  
> Facility Safety Board's investigation of Sandia’s nuclear reactors  
> and during a period of high public concern about the Fukushima  
> reactor meltdowns.  Sandia may be operating its reactors despite  
> unresolved safety questions that require shutdown.”
>
> The concerns of the federal safety board date back to 2004 when its  
> staff described numerous safety deficiencies.  Again in 2012, the  
> staff identified concerns about the lack of independent safety  
> assessments and poor computer software quality for Sandia's ACRR  
> reactor for the confinement of plutonium in the event of an  
> explosion. Lack of assurance that safety systems would function was  
> emphasized. The control panel could not inform operators what steps  
> to take.
>
> A previous lawsuit filed by Citizen Action against the NNSA  
> resulted in a Santa Fe Federal District Court decision that ordered  
> the NNSA to halt its “Kafkaesque and labyrinthine” pattern and  
> practice of withholding documents.
>
> McCoy stated, “Sandia management shows willingness to hide the  
> facts about nuclear waste draining into Albuquerque's aquifer and  
> the conduct of unsafe nuclear operations.”
>
> Additional Information
>
> A lawsuit filed in 2011 by Citizen Action for Sandia’s Mixed Waste  
> Landfill resulted in obtaining documents that describe the EPA  
> Region 6 and the New Mexico Environment Department’s cover up of  
> defective groundwater monitoring data used to make an  
> administrative decision to leave radioactive and hazardous wastes  
> in place under a dirt cover at Sandia's Mixed Waste Landfill.
>
> Citizen Action first complained to the EPA in 2007 that the  
> monitoring wells were in the wrong locations, improperly drilled  
> and had corroded screens and could not be relied on for data to  
> leave the radioactive wasters above Albuquerque’s aquifer.
>
> The Environment Department is further delaying a 5 year review that  
> was required under its own order for the Mixed Waste Landfill and  
> was due three years ago.  The 2005 order requires Sandia to  
> consider the feasibility of excavating the Mixed Waste Landfill  
> every 5 years.
>
> McCoy says that the Department wants to avoid further embarrassment  
> from having evidence introduced into the review record that it lied  
> to the public about both the inadequacy of the dirt cover and the  
> defective ground water monitoring.  In the 2012 NM Legislative  
> Session, the Senate considered a Memorial 34 demanding that the  
> Department immediately order Sandia to perform the safety review.
>
> The Environment Department sued Citizen Action in 2007 to keep a  
> TechLaw, Inc. report secret from the public that described defects  
> in the design of the landfill’s dirt cover to protect the  
> groundwater.  Citizen Action obtained the report after a state  
> court rejected the Department’s claim of “executive privilege” to  
> withhold the TechLaw document.
>
> Citizen Action is a 501(C)(3) project of the New Mexico Community  
> Foundation.



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