Lack of communications between the Sandia National Laboratories and the Kansas City National Security Campus resulted in some improperly manufactured flex cables, and separately in the Missouri manufacturing facility accepting other flex cables that failed post-manufacturing tests, the Department of Energy’s inspector general reported recently.
Someone who tipped off the IG in 2019 about the manufacturing defect for part 3A3917 rigid-flex cables, which were ultimately deemed acceptable for use, laid blame for the error at the feet of the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC). The whistleblower said KCNSC never tried to contact Sandia about the proper manufacturing requirements for these cables.
The inspector general said it could not substantiate that allegation, instead calling the mistake the result of “poor communication between the design and production agency…”
Meanwhile, the inspector general wrote in its March 22 report, some 20 faulty cables with the designations 2A3555 and 2A3557 got through testing because a subcontractor was using out-of-date testing criteria. These parts were “produced for KCNSC by Printed Circuits, Inc.,” the inspector general wrote. PCI subcontracted continuity testing of the parts to a company called Gardien, according to the inspector general.
The inspector general’s investigation into the cables wrapped up in February.
KCNSC manufactures the non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons. The inspector general’s report did not say which weapon or weapons the faulty flex cables were to be used in. Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies manages KCNSC for the National Nuclear Security Administration under a 10-year contract that includes five years of firm money and five one-year options. The NNSA last year picked up the first option period on the deal.
Editor’s note, 04/01/2021, 7:10 p.m. Eastern time. The story was corrected to show which tranches of cables were manufactured improperly due to poor communications between the sites, and which tranches of cables were accepted by KCNSC despite failing continuity tests.
