Cause of power outage at Texas nuclear weapons plant unknown

June 7, 2004

The cause has not been determined for a hour-long complete power outage at a nuclear weapons plant near Amarillo, and the investigation is expanding, an official said.

The May 19 blackout affected the entire Pantex plant, America's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility, but backup power kicked in "very, very quick," said Jud Simmons, plant spokesman.

Simmons said that it was the most severe power outage ever at the plant but that security was never compromised.

When such an emergency occurs, he said, "We have a lot of different backup systems to make sure we can place all weapons systems in a safe and stable configuration."

After more than two weeks of searching for a cause for the outage, Simmons said the internal probe has expanded, including hiring additional people to investigate. "We are keeping the Department of Energy informed, of course, on what we're doing," he said.

The 16,000 acre Pantex facility, is considered to be a potential terrorist target and is located 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, where some nuclear warheads are put together, other as disassembled, and still others have their radioactive components- plutonium and uranium- removed to heavily guarded storage banks.

This past January, Pantex was cited by federal investigators who said workers there could have caused a catastrophic event when they taped together broken pieces of highly explosive materials taken from the plutonium trigger of an old warhead. If any of the explosives had been dropped during the improper handling, it could have set of a "violent reaction," the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

In the May 19 power outage at Pantex, Simmons would not comment on whether officials had ruled out sabotage of the power system.

"Until a final determination is made, I think it's premature to speculate on anything," he said.