New nuke agency should give Test Site direction

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 12:14 p.m.

Congress created a new nuclear weapons agency today in the most dramatic reorganization of the Department of Energy in 22 years, and a Nevada Test Site official said the change would give the former U.S. nuclear weapons proving ground direction for its future.

From 1951 until 1992 federal scientists exploded more than 1,000 nuclear weapons in experiments designed to keep the United States ahead of the former Soviet Union.

After President George Bush halted the nuclear experiments in September 1992, the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, went dormant but could be ready to resume testing in less than two years.

"We have not heard anything yet," DOE Nevada spokesman Darwin Morgan said after the Senate voted 93-5 today following a veto-proof 375-45 vote in the House last week.

"DOE headquarters, we expect, will begin delivering the impacts from the reorganization to us," Morgan said. Although Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said he would ask President Clinton to veto the overhaul of the Energy Department, Morgan noted that both votes are veto proof.

Congress reacted to allegations that China stole nuclear weapons secrets from DOE laboratories, especially Los Alamos National Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., by reorganizing the DOE as part of a $288.9 billion defense bill that includes military pay raises and a 4.4 percent across-the-board increase in Pentagon spending, including more money for military housing and hardware.

The defense bill has overwhelming support, making a veto unlikely, lawmakers said after the vote.

The new nuclear weapons agency will not be totally independent. Instead, the bill insulates the department's nuclear weapons programs and consolidates authority over the government's three nuclear weapons labs -- Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore in Northern California and Sandia near Albuquerque.

The Nevada Test Site is considered a field laboratory by scientists working in the three laboratories. However, no security breaches were noted at the Test Site, because computers used there are not networked with those at the labs.

There was no immediate administration reaction to the Senate vote.

Richardson supported some of the reorganization but argued that the new agency would have too much autonomy and would disrupt security and counterintelligence improvements he already has made in response to accusations of Chinese espionage. He has secured DOE's computers at the national laboratories, including the Test Site, and continues to tighten security throughout the agency.

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada was concerned about how the legislation might affect the day-to-day operations at the Test Site, but received assurances that nothing would change, spokesman David Cherry said. Reid voted in favor of the bill, as did Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.

"The president would be crazy to veto it," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who said he was confident of getting the veto-proof majority in the Senate.

Although voicing concern about the nuclear agency, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he too voted for the changes because he didn't want to jeopardize the defense bill.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Sen. Pete Dominici, R-N.M., presented their case for the nuclear agency in a meeting with the president earlier this week.

Domenici said he told the president that the nuclear weapons programs should be separated from the rest of the Energy Department or the nuclear programs put under an independent agency.

The new agency is still subject to all environmental and worker protection laws, Domenici said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.