Bill Filed To Ban Universities From Pursuing Contracts To Manage Nuclear Weapons Facilities

[Press Release from State Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth).]

Two years ago, the University of Texas at Austin attempted to win a contract to run Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a key laboratory in the development of nuclear weapons systems. The Lab has been plagued by security breaches in recent years. Just last month, several Congressmen suggested the LANL should be shut down completely.

“If UT had won the bid to run LANL, it would be UT’s good name that would have been dragged into this controversy,” said Rep. Burnam. “There is now talk that the LANL contract could be rebid yet again. If that happens, UT should not be allowed to submit another proposal. My bill would prevent them from making the wrong decision—again.

“The University spent over $1 million out of the Available University Fund trying to win the right to run Los Alamos,” Burnam continued. “The AUF is partly used to fund libraries. UT no longer has a 24-hour library. The reason cited is a lack of funds. UT should not be wasting millions of dollars on misguided attempts to take over a nuclear weapons lab at the expense of student access to libraries.”
Before it was announced that UT had lost the bid, UT Board of Regents Chairman James Huffines called Los Alamos “one of the finest institutions in the country.” Since then, in the latest in a long string of security breaches, a LANL employee took classified documents to her trailer home, which doubled as a meth lab.
“UT was wrong to go after Los Alamos and all of its problems,” said Burnam. “A public university’s role in society
should not be to develop nuclear weapons or guard nuclear secrets. UT set itself up for major liabilities in the event of an accident.
“UT should not put itself on the wrong side of one of the most important issues of our time: nuclear nonproliferation.
The University of Texas should not be a part of the new nuclear weapons race.”
House Bill 1349 would not preclude UT from entering into memoranda of understanding (MOU’s) with research labs that would allow UT professors and students to conduct research. It would prohibit any public university from entering a contract to manage or operate a nuclear weapons
laboratory.