(August 7, 1998) An investigative report released on June 29 by the United States' Department of Labor found "weight of evidence" that managers at Livermore Lab illegally retaliated against an employee who raised concerns about the safety of plutonium handling at the Plutonium Facility.
(495.4899) Marylia Kelly - David Lappa, a nuclear engineer who has worked at the Lawrence Livermore Lab for 19 years, served last summer on an internal committee investigating criticality safety violations at the Plutonium Facility. The committee uncovered evidence that workers engaged in plutonium processing had willfully breached rules that are designed to prevent a criticality accident, an intense, potentially lethal, burst of radiation. Lappa refused to endorse the committee's report because it submerged the evidence of willful safety violations.
Since his refusal to sign the report, Lappa has been subjected to coercion, intimidation, discrimination, and retaliation at the Lab. He was immediately given negative job performance feedback; had his expected pay raise reduced; was denied a transfer; was advised by his direct supervisor that senior management was working to have him fired; was moved to a windowless office formerly used as a storage closet; and was placed in an assignment with no prospects for advancement.
In order to remedy the violation, the Labor Deptartment report states that Lawrence Livermore must: protect David Lappa from future reprisals, eliminate all negative references found in his personnel files, make good faith efforts to provide him with a transfer or placement assistance if he seeks a job outside the Lab, provide him with a paid leave of absence, and provide compensation for counseling costs, damages, attorney's fees, and incidental expenses connected with the complaint.
Concerns about the Department of Energy's treatment of whistleblowers were given additional weight and credibility recently when former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary testified in a deposition that during the early to mid-1990s, there had been an "agency-wide" pattern of reprisals against "individuals who made themselves heard and didn't follow the so-called party line".
The Lab's Plutonium Facility is still in a "stand down" mode, and activities, such as the machining of plutonium parts for the next subcritical test. Livermore Lab is entitled to appeal.
Source and Contact: Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 5720 East Ave. #116, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
Tel: +1-925-443-7148; Fax: +1-925-443-0177