June 26, 2006

The Department's Management of Non-Nuclear High Explosives

Two defense laboratories did not maintain adequate Management of High control, accountability, and safety over their high explosive Explosives inventories. At Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), contractor officials did not always track the acquisition and use of explosives and could not account for significant quantities of explosive material and devices. In addition, both Sandia and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos) maintained large quantities of high explosives that were unlikely to be needed for current or future missions. Finally, both organizations were not regularly evaluating the stability and safety of the high explosive materials as required. In contrast, we found the high explosives management process at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore) to be effective.