Some people said it was "criminal" that the hard drives were missing from a computer believed to be beneficial to the examination of historical contaminations of water at the Oak Ridge K-25 Site.

The issue is so troubling that the Department of Energy's Inspector General's office is being notified of the situation.

The missing computer equipment was discussed Monday afternoon by the Community Input Team, which provides stakeholder representation for the water examination.

The team includes representatives from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board and the Paper, Allied-industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Union.

William Noe, who once used the computer and is on the Community Input Team, confirmed that the computer would not start when technicians tried to examine it in mid-April. The computer's two hard drives had been removed and are missing along with multiple backup copies of the K-25 water line drawings and digital photos that could indicate possible cross-connected water lines.
Richard Frounfelker, a DOE representative on the Community Input Team, said the hard drives were reformatted after Noe left in late 1996 and the computer was given to someone else. He said this is a typical procedure within DOE. However, Frounfelker added that the person who took over Noe's computer said it did not work when he got it.

Frounfelker also provided a written history of what happened to the computer after Noe left. The document states the computer's "hard drive" was discarded in May 2000. Frounfelker was unable to confirm whether that applied to both hard drives or just one.

The missing computer equipment generated mixed response from Community Input Team members on Monday.

"This is bordering on criminal," said Sherrie Farver, who represents Coalition for a Healthy Environment on the team. "We're looking at negligence and possibly criminal negligence."
Norman Mulvenon, who represents the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee on the team, said it was just "ineptitude" on DOE's part.

Ultimately, the Community Input Team voted to notify DOE's Inspector General's office in writing expressing their concern about the missing computer equipment. It will be up to the Inspector General's office to determine if an investigation needs to be conducted.