Inspection of alleged design and construction deficiencies in the Nuclear Materials Storage Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory

On June 8, 1994, the Office of Inspections, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Department of Energy (DOE), received a letter dated May 31, 1994, from a complainant concerning the Nuclear Materials Storage Facility (NMSF) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The complainant alleged that the NMSF, completed in 1987, was so poorly designed and constructed that it was never usable and that DOE proposed to gut the entire facility and sandblast the walls. According to the complainant, ``these errors are so gross as to constitute professional malpractice in a commercial design setting.`` The complainant further stated that ``DOE proposes to renovate this facility to store large amounts of plutonium (as much as 30 metric tons, by some accounts), and it is imperative that the public receive some assurance that this waste will not recur and that the facility will be made safe.`` The purpose of our inspection was to determine if the allegations regarding the design and construction of the NMSF were accurate, and if so, to determine if the Government could recover damages from the Architect/Engineer and/or the construction contractor. We also reviewed the Department`s proposed actions to renovate the NMSF