While it did not generate the same level of attention as a security scare last week at the Pantex Plant in Texas, the Nevada National Security Site also dealt with an incident — for which the culprit was an ultimately harmless cell phone.
According to a Department of Energy (DOE) summary posted Wednesday, a suspicious package arrived Friday at the site’s North Las Vegas Facility, about 12 miles north of Las Vegas proper. The package was from a known agency vendor — DOE did not say which one — but vibrated at some point after reaching the Atlas Gate.
That prompted DOE to declare an operational emergency and order personnel in the North Las Vegas administrative facility to avoid the gate. Ultimately, the North Las Vegas Police Department’s bomb squad discovered a powered-up cell phone connected to a charger in the package.
The Energy Department’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) runs the Nevada National Security Site through prime contractor Mission Support and Test Services: a team encompassing Honeywell International; Jacobs Engineering Group; and Huntington Ingalls Industries. A separate contractor, SOC, handles security. The site performs non-nuclear-explosive tests to help ensure U.S. nuclear weapons are as destructive as they are designed to be.
The Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, was put on lockdown on Oct. 23 because of a suspicious car. A resulting security sweep of the vehicle uncovered no prohibited items, prompting plant security to stand down about an hour after the lockdown. Pantex assembles and disassembles nuclear weapons that need maintenance, or which are to be broken down for parts.
