Dangerous Mind-Set

For 40 years the nation's nuclear weaponry has provided enough security to allow Americans to sleep better at night. But there is now chilling evidence that the custodians of the nation's atomic arsenal have all the while also kept their eyes closed -- not in sleep but in egregious disregard for safety. Drawing on three years of investigations, the oversight subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week disclosed patterns of sloppy operation, arrogant indifference and willful deception in the management of the country's 17 major nuclear-weapons facilities. The result of years of mismanagement plus the estimated $130 billion needed to repair the situation: "a crisis of the highest order."

The Department of Energy owns the plants, and private corporations operate them. During the Reagan Administration, the report said, Energy Secretary John S. Herrington inadvertently encouraged unsafe practices with a "buddy bonus system" and a "mind-set" that rewarded production over safety. An unidentified executive who "allowed health and safety to deteriorate" received a big cash bonus, and was praised as an "outstanding manager and leader" by Herrington's Under Secretary Joseph Salgado.

Coming even as the Justice Department is pursuing a criminal investigation of practices at the Rocky Flats, Colo., nuclear-weapons plant, the report sketched a variety of lapses. Many were not disclosed, said Democratic Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, committee and subcommittee chairman, because of "obsessive secrecy." Among them:

-- In one Savannah River reactor, the only fire-fighting equipment was a garden hose. Managers left the sprinkler system off in another unit for fear that if activated it might get computers and records wet.

-- At the Hanford, Wash., plutonium finishing plant, managers turned off radiation alarms because high winds sometimes set them off.

-- Workers used illegal drugs at the most sensitive facilities: Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos and Hanford.

Responding, a DOE spokeswoman said new Energy Secretary James Watkins knows of the abuses and is determined to remedy them. Ever since taking office Watkins has admitted that changing the DOE mind-set may not be as easy as "changing the equipment used in the plants.