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WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is refusing to pay $14 million of the costs associated with last year's security-related shutdown at the Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory, although a top official said most of the expenses were reasonable and praised the lab's efficiency.
The total cost of the seven-month suspension of work at the New Mexico lab — which followed reports that two classified computer disks had disappeared — remains unclear. The lab puts the figure at $119 million, while the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration estimates up to $367 million.
The "stand-down" at Los Alamos National Laboratory lasted from July 2004 into February 2005, though many workers resumed normal duties after the first month. An investigation concluded that the disks reported missing had never existed.
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