Subcommittee Investigates Plutonium Spill at NIST

On June 9, 2008, there was an accidental plutonium spill at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratory in Boulder, CO. Despite the Committee’s inquires, NIST did not provide clear information regarding the collection and disposal of the radioactive materials. So, on July 9 Chairman Bart Gordon, and Subcommittee Chairmen David Wu and Mark Udall sent the Secretary of Commerce a letter urging him to immediately investigate the environmental, health and safety programs at NIST. Following the letter, Subcommittee Members held a hearing to investigate NIST’s response to the plutonium spill on July15.

This Subcommittee has been the strongest champion of NIST in Congress, and its Members have spent a lot of time educating our colleagues about the outstanding scientific and technical work of NIST employees,” said Subcommittee Chairman David Wu.  “However, along with scientific and technical excellence must be an equal dedication to safe laboratory practices.  This is especially true at NIST, where staff routinely work with hazardous materials and high powered equipment, such as radioactive material and lasers.”

Subcommittee Jurisdiction

Committee Rule 3(a)(2)

Legislative jurisdiction and general oversight and investigative authority on all matters relating to competitiveness, technology, standards, and innovation:

• standardization of weights and measures including technical standards, standardization, and conformity assessment;
• measurement, including the metric system of measurement;
• the Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce;
• the National Institute of Standards and Technology;
• the National Technical Information Service;
• competitiveness, including small business competitiveness;
• tax, antitrust, regulatory and other legal and governmental policies as they relate to technological development and commercialization;
• technology transfer including civilian use of defense technologies;
• patent and intellectual property policy;
• international technology trade;
• research, development, and demonstration activities of the Department of Transportation;
• surface and water transportation research, development, and demonstration programs;
• earthquake programs (except for NSF) and fire research programs including those related to wildfire proliferation research and prevention;
• biotechnology policy;
• research, development, demonstration, and standards related activities of the Department of Homeland Security;
• Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer; and
• voting technologies and standards.