Construction Begins on RLWTF-Upgrade Project
NS&D Monitor
1/30/2015
Construction work has begun on the first phase of a project to replace the aging Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Late last week, Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the managing contractor at the lab, issued a notice to proceed with construction to subcontractor Yearout Industrial to begin work on a new low-level liquid waste facility. Yearout Industrial’s contract is set to run for 18 months and is valued at approximately $25 million, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Site Office.
The new low-level liquid waste facility is one of two the NNSA plans to build at Los Alamos to replace the lab’s existing Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, which is an aging facility with a history of leaks that led to concerns that ongoing operations could be threatened due to a lack of an adequate waste processing ability. Along with the new low-level waste facility, NNSA is also planning to build a new facility to process liquid transuranic waste. The low-level waste facility is scheduled to be completed and ready for operation by early 2018, with the transuranic waste facility to be completed in 2020.
Former Los Alamos Scientist Sentenced in Espionage Case
NS&D Monitor
1/30/2015
Former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni was sentenced this week to five years in prison and three years of supervised release for sharing classified nuclear weapons data to an undercover FBI agent. Mascheroni, 79, is alleged to have claimed that he could “deliver” a nuclear weapon to Venezuela in exchange for $793,000 during an undercover operation by the FBI. He worked at LANL from 1979 to 1988 and spent time at the lab’s famed X Division where he had access to nuclear weapons data. Mascheroni’s wife, Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, a technical writer at the lab, was sentenced last year to one year and a day in prison for her role in the espionage plot.
The pair was indicted in 2010. “The public trusts that the government will do all it can to safeguard Restricted Data from being unlawfully transmitted to foreign nations not entitled to receive it,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said in a statement. “We simply cannot allow people to violate their pledge to protect the classified nuclear weapons data with which they are entrusted. Today’s sentencing should leave no doubt that counterespionage investigations remain one of our most powerful tools to protect our national security.”
Mascheroni Boasted About Exploding Bomb Over New York City
According to a 2010 indictment, Mascheroni first met with an undercover agent at a hotel in Santa Fe, N.M., in March 2008. At the first meeting, Mascheroni explained his ideas for the development of a Venezuelan nuclear weapons program including “a laser … capable of blinding satellites.” Mascheroni is alleged to have explained that he could “deliver” a nuclear weapon to Venezuela in 10 years, according to the indictment, and discussed a scenario in which the South American nation could have a 40-missile nuclear arsenal by 2020.
Mascheroni, who was born in Argentina but is a U.S. citizen, explained that Venezuela could provide a Latin American nuclear “umbrella,” according to the indictment, with the ability to retaliate with nuclear weapons against any country that attacked any Latin American country. Mascheroni also reportedly told “Jimenez” at the initial meeting that Venezuela could explode a nuclear weapon in the air above New York City in a way that would not kill anyone but would disable all electric power in the area. According to the indictment, Mascheroni allegedly told the agent that, with his technical expertise, Venezuela would “be ahead of LANL and the United States.”
In June 2010, the agent provided Mascheroni with a $20,000 down payment and a list of 21 questions, which Mascheroni answered with references to classified information he learned during his time at Los Alamos. The case became public Oct. 19, 2010, when FBI agents raided the Mascheronis’ home.
‘I Was Basically Selling Used Cars’
In his Jan. 28 sentencing hearing, Mascheroni refuted the claims against him, saying the information he passed on to the undercover agent was available through open-source documentation or fabricated. “I was basically selling used cars,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “What I was selling was completely science fiction.”
