US partially suspends research work at nuke weapons facilities

The US Energy Department has effectively shut down part of the nation's nuclear weapons complex,fearful that security lapses discovered at Los Alamos National Laboratory had occurred elsewhere, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham ordered two dozen national laboratories and several other nuclear weapons facilities to stop using classified information stored on computer disks, portable hard drives and tapes that employees can easily remove from work, the report said.

The biggest effect will be on the Energy Department's nuclear weapons facilities in California, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Such a shutdown has already been in effect for nine days atLos Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

The action was taken after the Los Alamos nuclear lab reported it could not locate two computer disks that contained classified information. So far, they have declined to say what is on the disks, though members of Congress have suggested the loss represents a serious security breach.

Officials said they had no idea how long the order would continue or how many employees would have their work disrupted. Some labs and weapons plants said that hundreds and potentially thousands of their employees would be affected by the order, whichtakes effect Monday.

Abraham's unprecedented order would curtail operations across the Energy Department's chain of laboratories, computing centers, accelerators and factories that employ more than 100,000 workers, the report said.

Under the order, sites cannot resume normal operations until they review security procedures, conduct inventories of all classified data stored on removable devices and can certify that the data is stored under proper security. Workers will be held accountable for any future problems, he warned.

The Los Alamos National Lab halted all classified work early the month after two data storage devices were reportedly missing.

Meanwhile, an investigation team consists of Energy Department officials and Congressmen has begun probe in the lab on how the incident happened and what the impact on the national security could be.

The incident is the latest in a series of security lapses at the New Mexico lab. Los Alamos has been under fire since 2002 after allegations about purchasing fraud, equipment theft and mismanagement.

Source: Xinhua