The State - News from Sept. 18, 1988

The new director of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is conducting a management shake-up at the problem-plagued facility. John Nuckolls told UC regents, who are contracted to operate the federal weapons laboratory about 45 miles east of San Francisco, that he has made 24 organizational changes in six months and is not finished yet. Among the changes was removal of the official in charge of a drug investigation that drew criticism from a congressional committee. The committee heard testimony that there is extensive drug use at the lab and listened to allegations that the drug probe was halted prematurely. The laboratory has been plagued by other bad press in recent weeks, including a Department of Energy report that its sewage system may be leaking toxic and radioactive materials into ground water. Environmentalists contend a proposed incinerator could cause air pollution.