Ambassador Linton F. Brooks
Administrator
Department of Energy
National Nuclear Security Administration
Washington DC 20585

Dear Ambassador Brooks:

A reader of IEER's report, Weapons Plutonium in Los Alamos Soil and Waste: Environmental, Health, and Security Implications, brought to my attention that my analysis of plutonium in Los Alamos waste did not take into account plutonium used in hydronuclear tests at Los Alamos. As a result, my colleague Brice Smith and I decided to correct the oversight and take the opportunity to thoroughly review and revise the analysis as necessary. We have also decided to issue it as a separate report: Dangerous Discrepancies: Missing Plutonium in Los Alamos National Laboratory Waste Accounts, since there was no problem with the first part dealing with residual radioactivity and cleanup. A copy of the revised report is enclosed. While some details are different from Part II of the November 29, 2005 report, the major conclusions of the analysis are unchanged. We have concluded that Los Alamos plutonium accounts have a discrepancy of about 300 kilograms of plutonium. The range is 270 kilograms to 350 kilograms.

Thank you very much for the response you've provided thus far. I look forward to further explanations of the large discrepancy and replies to the outstanding questions raised in my correspondence.

Sincerely,

Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D.
President, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

cc: Samuel Bodman, Secretary of Energy
      A.J. Eggenberger, Chairman, DNFSB
      Michael Ray Ferry, U.S. DOE/NNSA
      Don Ami, U.S. DOE/Los Alamos Site Office
      John Ordaz, U.S. DOE/LAAO