GovernmentExecutive.com

The shutdown last year at the Los Alamos National Laboratory could cost up to $367 million due to work that was delayed or not finished, National Nuclear Security Administration chief Linton Brooks said Friday.

That amount "represents an upper limit" of the possible price tag for the work suspension that lasted for months in some sections while the laboratory improved security procedures, Brooks told the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

The laboratory estimates the cost at $119 million, according to the Associated Press. Tens of millions of dollars included in the Energy Department accounting are not directly related to the shutdown, Los Alamos Director Peter Nanos said.

Brooks said that the U.S. government is expected to absorb the cost rather than requiring money from the University of California, which manages Los Alamos.

Representative Greg Walden, R-Ore., said that is "outrageous."

"The university was hired to do a job and they didn't do it," he said.

Nanos also reported that two employees indicated the existence of two computer disks containing classified information by falsifying an inventory sheet. The apparent disappearance of the nonexistent disks triggered the shutdown.

Nanos said no such inventory had been conducted. The two employees were fired, but Nanos at the hearing would not say if he believes they should face criminal charges, AP reported.