Nation in brief

Feds cite UC for lab dangers

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy cited the University of California on Friday for serious violations of nuclear safety rules at Los Alamos National Laboratory, saying its lax oversight of procedures for handling radioactive material could endanger the safety of lab workers.

The violations -- which echo complaints that lab whistle-blowers and union officials have made in recent years -- could undermine the university's campaign to save its 60-year contract to manage the nation's premier nuclear weapons design, which is in jeopardy because of allegations of theft and fraud at Los Alamos.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to decide by April 30 whether the university can keep the contract or whether to invite other institutions or companies to bid to manage the facility in New Mexico, which has 9,600 employees and a $1.7-billion annual budget.

Shuttle director expected to resign this week

Ron Dittemore, director of NASA's space shuttle program, is expected to resign as early as this week and move to a new job in private industry, the Los Angeles Times reports, quoting an unnamed government source.

Immediately after the Columbia loss on Feb. 1, Dittemore took the lead role in explaining what the agency knew before the accident. Dittemore said in the days after the accident that took the lives of seven astronauts that he could not believe that foam debris falling off the shuttle's external tank could have caused the tragedy.

Such an event now represents the leading theory of what happened. Dittemore, 51, has not been faulted publicly for his role in the program or the Columbia mission by members of Congress, the space agency leadership or independent investigators. Nonetheless, his departure does not come as a complete surprise.

NASA's management of the space program is a central focus of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and recommendations for changes to that management system are likely by the middle of July, congressional sources said Saturday. In the past, changes in the shuttle management policies and practices have been accompanied by a change of key personnel.

Also ...

LUMBER ANTITRUST JUDGMENT: A lumber company won a $78-million antitrust judgment in a lawsuit alleging timber giant Weyerhaeuser used high-pressure tactics to elbow competing mills out of a lucrative hardwood market. The federal lawsuit, filed by Ross-Simmons Hardwood Lumber of Longview, Wash., also accused Weyerhaeuser of buying large quantities of red alder, popular in furniture making, to deprive competitors of raw materials.

TV GUIDE CHIEF FIRING: Media company Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. fired former chief executive Henry Yuen on Friday, a day after the Securities and Exchange Commission recommended he be jailed for failing to testify in an investigation into company accounting practices. Yuen stepped down in November but remained on the payroll of the California company, which owns TV Guide and provides electronic programming guides.

STEELWORKERS NEGOTIATE: Steelworkers' contract with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. expired Saturday, but both sides agreed to extend it while negotiating a master contract the union wants to use in talks with other tiremakers.

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