I tried to escape... and I am still in the GWN!

[aion at sdf.lonestar.org (E.Noval)]

Thought you'd like to know...

While you were away from Texas, people back 'home' were duct taping
nuclear missiles...They almost blew Texas (and the entire SW) off the map.
As they say... it almost had "potentially unacceptable consequences". Nice
way to put it...



> Nuke Workers Taped Explosive Components
>
> By MATT KELLEY
> Associated Press Writer
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Workers dismantling an aging nuclear weapon improperly
> secured broken pieces of a highly explosive component by taping them
> together, federal investigators found. An explosion could have occurred,
> they said.
>
> The incident was among several recent safety lapses at the Energy
> Department's Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas, noted by the independent
> Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Last fall, workers taking apart
> another old warhead accidentally drilled into the warhead's radioactive
> core, forcing evacuation of the facility.
>
> This month's unorthodox handling of the unstable explosive increased the
> risk that the technicians would drop it and set off a "violent reaction,"
> the safety board said Tuesday in a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer
> Abraham.
>
> Such a reaction could have "potentially unacceptable consequences," board
> chairman John T. Conway said in the letter, which raised disquieting
> questions about safety at the Pantex plant.
>
> About 250,000 people live within 50 miles of the Pantex plant, where the
> motto on its Web site is "Maintaining the safety, security and
> reliability of America's nuclear weapons stockpile."
>
> Nothing exploded, and no one was hurt.
>
> The National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the Energy
> Department's nuclear weapons programs, is investigating, spokesman Bryan
> Wilkes said Friday.
>
> "Safety remains a priority for us," Wilkes said. "We are working to
> address the issues in the letter."
>
> Safety board chairman Conway's letter did not make clear whether the
> explosive had been separated at the time from the softball-sized chunk of
> plutonium that forms the pit, or trigger, of a thermonuclear warhead. To
> prevent a thermonuclear blast, the pit would have to have been separated
> from the larger warhead.
>
> If the explosive were still connected to the trigger, an explosion could
> have injured or killed workers and could have spread plutonium or other
> radioactive materials around the facility.
>
> The taping and removal of the explosive did not go as planned, and only
> quick thinking by the technicians prevented them from dropping the
> explosive, Conway wrote.
>
> Conway said taping the explosives together was one of several mistakes
> made by Pantex officials that risked an explosion. Pantex officials also
> played down the risk, Conway said, calling the cracks in the explosive
> and the fact that workers taped it together a trivial change in
> procedures.
>
> Jud Simmons, a spokesman for Pantex plant operator BWX Technologies Inc.,
> did not return telephone messages on Friday.
>
> The pit's plutonium is surrounded by an explosive shell. When the
> explosives detonate, the plutonium is compressed and causes a nuclear
> explosion. In a thermonuclear weapon, that explosion sets off an even
> stronger nuclear blast.
>
> Workers dismantling the pit in question found the explosive was cracked,
> which made it more unstable and easier to detonate, Conway wrote. Their
> solution was to tape together the cracked explosives and move them to
> another location.
>
> In his letter, Conway said other problems included:
>
> -Failing to consult the explosives' manufacturer to determine how
> unstable the cracked explosives might be;
>
> -Performing an incomplete and inadequate safety review before going
> ahead;
>
> -Allowing workers to perform the taping and removal without practicing on
> a mock-up;
>
> -Failing to have experts who had developed the procedure watch the taping
> and removal to try to spot any problems.
>
> Conway's letter does not elaborate on what might have happened had the
> explosive detonated.
>
> The Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has an inspector stationed at the
> Pantex plant and at the nation's other nuclear weapons sites. Weekly
> reports by the Pantex inspector, William White, show several problems
> with safety at the plant, including flaws in the software designed to
> control the movement of nuclear and explosive materials around the site.
>
> White reported in October that Pantex technicians had made a mistake
> while dismantling a W62 warhead from a Minuteman missile. A drill damaged
> part of the warhead's nuclear core, prompting officials to evacuate the
> facility until experts determined that no radiation had leaked, White
> wrote.
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 25 Jan 2004, Patrick Bureau wrote:
>
> > Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 09:17:39 -0600
> > From: Patrick Bureau <ats@longcoeur.com>
> > To: 'dswalterwi' <dswalterwi@earthlink.net>
> > Cc: 'Scirocco List' <Scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
> > Subject: RE: I tried to escape... and I am still in the GWN!
> >
> > Because I entered the USA in 97 with a TN-1 Visa (NAFTA) that lasted 2
> > years, then I left for 10 months waiting for my K3 (life act) visa. Got that
> > but its only good for 2 years, the renewal for this visa and my work permit
> > have been in process for over 4 months now (started it 3 months prior to end
> > of visa/permit expiry time as advise by INS to do so) but yet to receive the
> > renewal papers telling me to pick up K3 visa.) But now I am in Montr?al
> > under the Alien Immigration Visa (once landed I will change the status to
> > Landed alien immigration visa (yet another 1500$) and I will be good for 10
> > years in the USA.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: dswalterwi [mailto:dswalterwi@earthlink.net]
> > Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2004 11:40 AM
> > To: 'Patrick Bureau'; Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > Cc: TST@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: RE: I tried to escape... and I am still in the GWN!
> >
> > If you have been here since 1997 why haven't you become a US Citizen??
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org
> > [mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org] On Behalf Of Patrick Bureau
> > Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 7:06 PM
> > To: Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > Cc: TST@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: I tried to escape... and I am still in the GWN!
> >
> > Well... its official US INS SUCKS ASS BIG TIME!
> >
> >
> >
> > Got to Canada on a 11 day warning, got my 200$ medical (cough
 good

> > here is
> > your certificate) and waited patiently 4 days in -22?c freezing weather
> > to
> > acquiest the stupid immigration request that I present myself 1800 Miles
> > away from my home to get an Alien Immigrant Visa.
> >
> >
> >
> > Have an appointment at 8.30
 waited 4 hrs to see someone, to be told we
> > should of brought (not that any of the provided documentation sent to me
> > indicated any need for these documents) 2002 tax returns and pay stub
> > for
> > 2003 to prove my wife can ?support? me being in the us (though I have
> > been
> > in Texas since early 1997 working full time all this time, and they
> > acknowledge knowing I have been working self-supporting myself and my
> > wife
> > all this time)
> >
> >
> >
> > So we say fine, well just drive home , mail the request data to them
> > from
> > texas and they can MAIL us the damn visa (as per the new documents given
> > to
> > us as they asked us to leave the embassy) and load the jeep and head to
> > the
> > ?La Cole? New-York/Canada drive-thru customs

> >
> >
> >
> > Please pull to immigration office # 3 well just do some paper work
.
> > Yeah
> > sure
 wait 2 hrs
 sorry you cannot enter the country

> >
> >
> >
> > The reason?
> >
> > Because I am married to an American citizen I MUST wait for a visa to
> > get
> > back in
  (Like that makes ANY sense)
> >
> >
> >
> > Drove back to my parents in Montr?al
 where we are getting stuff faxed
> > and
> > FedEx overnight to us from Texas (yeas our income taxes are in Texas

> > not
> > the usual item to bring on a 1 week vacation to Canada
) and we shall
> > try
> > our hand at the embassy a second time around Monday

> >
> >
> >
> > -- Sorry I needed to vent --
> >
> >
> >
> > ATS - Patrick Bureau - ats@longcoeur.com
> >
> > 1985 3A/JH 2L - 102.5 Whp, 121 Torque
> >
> > 75, 77, 79, 80, 81s , 82, 86 on stand by.
> >
> > web site : http://ats.longcoeur.com
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Scirocco-l mailing list
> > Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Scirocco-l mailing list
> > Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>          ^
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> ____________________
>     - E.Noval -
> - - - - - - - - - - -
>
>





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