Top official at nuclear safety agency resigns

• By Scott Wyland swyland@sfnewmexican.com
• Sep 3, 2020

The chairman of the agency that oversees workplace safety at nuclear facilities has resigned, a move that officials say shouldn’t affect oversight of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Bruce Hamilton, who has chaired the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board for two years, will leave Sept. 12.

Hamilton gave no reason for his decision when he submitted his resignation, agency spokeswoman Tara Tadlock said.

“I don’t think there’s any ill feelings or negative reason,” Tadlock said.

His departure won’t hamper the board’s work because it will have three people, the minimum required for a quorum to vote, she said.

The agency has come under fire during the Trump administration, which has sought to limit its oversight.

In 2018, the U.S. Energy Department issued an order limiting the board’s access to sensitive information it needed for safety inspections. It also required Energy Department employees to “speak with one voice” to the board, discouraging individual workers from reporting safety violations.

Critics say the constraints run counter to the board’s statutory mission of working independently to assess accidents, missteps or unsafe conditions at nuclear weapons facilities to protect workers and the public.

In March, Hamilton wrote a letter to Congress describing how reduced access to information has hampered the board.

“During 2019, the Board experienced challenges and delays in accessing information necessary to perform its responsibilities,” he wrote.

He thanked Congress for stating in the proposed 2021 defense budget that the board’s full authority should be recognized.

Greg Mello, executive director of the nonprofit Los Alamos Study Group, said he has had personal dealings with Hamilton.

Mello said he found Hamilton affable but disagreed with some of his policies, such as his efforts to reduce the board’s workforce.

“Bruce was not as strong of a safety advocate as we would’ve liked,” Mello said. “We think the safety board is very important and understaffed.”

Tadlock said the board is made up of Democrats and Republicans.

President Barack Obama appointed Hamilton to the board in 2015, and President Donald Trump made him chairman in 2018.

Mello said he’d heard that board members’ differences, politically and otherwise, can boil over.

“There were very bitter disagreements on the board,” he said.

The board employs about 97 people, including 10 resident inspectors who live in the area of the facilities they inspect, Tadlock said. LANL has two of these inspectors, she added.

The board plans to increase the workforce to 110 employees, Tadlock said. The proposed budget for the board is $31 million, about $2.2 million more than it requested, she said.

Mello said the board being well-staffed will become more important as LANL ramps up production of nuclear warhead triggers to a historic high. That will increase the risk of accidents and unsafe practices, he said.

“It’s a thin safety net, and we have to make sure it’s as strong as possible,” Mello said.