Plan OKd to Fix Lab Safety Faults

U. S. Energy Secretary James D. Watkins has approved a five-year plan to correct 193 job-safety violations identified by a special inspection team at Rockwell’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory west of Chatsworth.

Although Watkins approved the plan only last week, some actions have already been taken to correct deficiencies found at the lab, where Rockwell operates the Energy Technology Center under contract with the Department of Energy, said Clark Gibbs, the center’s general manager.

Gibbs said the DOE has already spent more than $200,000 to correct many of the faulty electrical installations that the inspectors found “presented an imminent danger� of electrocution to workers.

The cost to correct the 193 deficiencies over five years is estimated at $27 million, Gibbs said.

The 193 environmental, safety and health violations were found in March and April by a DOE “tiger team.� Tiger teams are groups of DOE inspectors who comb weapons and research plants, operated by the department and its contractors, to identify health- and safety-related problems.

Despite the deficiencies found at the lab--including the way Rockwell monitors ground water and air quality at the site--the inspection team concluded that they did not pose a health or safety risk to the general public.

The Santa Susana lab has come under scrutiny by several state and federal health and environmental agencies because of radioactive and chemical residues found in ground water, soil and buildings, resulting from 35 years of nuclear research. Although the lab ceased nuclear energy research in the mid-1980s, cleanup continues.