The Pantex nuclear weapons plant, located near Amarillo, Texas, as seen by air on February 15, 2007.

Years of timecard fraud at the Texas factory where U.S. nuclear weapons are assembled and disassembled have harmed production timelines and operational safety procedures, and subsequent firings caused quality control issues with the nuclear weapons produced there, according to a federal government watchdog report.

The new information about the timekeeping scandal at the Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas, was released in an audit by the Department of Energy's inspector general office on Nov. 26. According to a Justice Department announcement about the lengthy fraud scheme, some weapons production technicians at the plant submitted timecards that claimed more hours than they had worked. The fraudulent time card submissions occurred from 2014 to 2020, the government said.

According to the audit, the missed hours directly led to "production delays" and "negative impacts to conduct of operations," which is a formalized work procedure designed to keep the nuclear workforce, the general public and the environment safe.

The company overseeing the Pantex plant disciplined the technicians, and at least some of them were fired. The firings led to other problems due to the loss of workforce expertise, Energy Department auditors found. Training and security clearances for replacement and interim employees cost around $8.4 million, and Pantex also saw a subsequent rise in "weapons quality incident reports" that document nuclear weapons production errors.

The IG audit did not quantify the rise in "weapons quality incident reports" after the firings or provide any examples of such errors. But a September 2023 report from a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board inspector stationed at Pantex detailed how technicians assembled a "nuclear explosive" incorrectly with crossed electrical wires. The swapped wires, which the report said "are labeled and color coded," made it past Pantex quality control techs undiscovered.

The contractor that formerly ran the National Nuclear Security Administration plant, Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, self-reported the timesheet discrepancies to federal authorities and paid $18.4 million to the Department of Justice in 2024 to settle the claims without admitting liability. The company currently manages the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where it manufactures nuclear weapons components.

"The Department of Justice and the (Department of Energy's Office of the Inspector General) acknowledged CNS's cooperation, assistance, and remedial measures taken to prevent recurrence," said company spokesperson Ann Smith in a statement emailed to USA TODAY. "CNS performs its important national security mission to the highest standards of excellence, ethics, and integrity."

Both CNS and the new contractor running Pantex, PenTeXas Deterrence LLC, addressed future timekeeping concerns by mandating technicians to badge in and badge out of facilities at the start and end of their shifts.

Davis Winkie's role covering nuclear threats and national security at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Timecard fraud at nuclear weapons plant led to quality issues, delays

Reporting by Davis Winkie, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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