Los Alamos National Laboratory’s primary contractor earned an overall good rating on a federal performance review but continued to wrestle with worker safety problems, production inefficiencies and staying on schedule on projects required to make nuclear warhead triggers by the target date.

The yearly report card graded Triad National Security LLC on how well it met the goals set for 2022, rating the contractor as “very good,” with 87% of the highest possible score — virtually identical to last year’s mark.

Triad’s grade earned it about a $23.2 million bonus, which combined with its fixed yearly fee of $26.9 million adds up to a little more than $47 million in total compensation, according to the the summary report. That’s a bump from last year’s $46.7 total.

Although the report mostly praised Triad’s efforts in running the lab’s daily operations and gearing up to make 30 nuclear bomb cores, or pits, by 2026, it also gave pointed criticisms, especially for weaknesses in worker safety and production snags.

“Multiple safety and security issues indicate that culture improvements continued to lag expectations,” the report said.

The contractor also showed “inconsistent rigor” in how it managed workplace safety, the report said.

Those lapses resulted in specific impacts to safe facility operations — nuclear safety, electrical safety, hazardous energy control, radiation protection and worker safety — that continued a trend seen in previous years, the report said.

The report said production of some equipment assemblies are behind schedule though still ahead of program needs, at least for now.

Crews did not effectively blend production and installation of equipment to ensure progress is made toward meeting goals for manufacturing pits, the report said.

This year, the National Nuclear Security Administration, an Energy Department branch, released the full reports for the first time in five years in response to two anti-nuclear groups filing Freedom of Information Act requests when the agency was slow to make the performance reviews public.

The full reports for Los Alamos and other national labs can be viewed at the nuclear security agency’s reading room.

Some portions are redacted, such as specific examples of problems outlined in the report.

One watchdog group, which requested the complete reports, said the lab appears to have consistent struggles in its quest to produce pits.

“It’s more indication that production is prioritized over safety,” said Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico. “And even then, there’s apparent problems with production.”

Greg Mello, executive direct of the Los Alamos Study Group, which also obtained the full reports, questioned Triad’s rating being so high.

“It’s strange the evaluation at LANL is so good, and their biggest program is in so much trouble,” Mello said. “They don’t know when — and we would say ‘if’ — they can make the plutonium pits they promised. They’re trying awfully hard, and they’re way behind.”

The report noted hazardous incidents included radioactive releases that exposed workers and three mishaps that caused electrical disruptions.

Triad hasn’t developed corrective actions for some issues, such as unplanned hazardous releases during routine maintenance, the report said. The contractor also hasn’t compiled a comprehensive inventory of chemicals on-site, it said.

Senior managers have begun a more detailed, integrated schedule for plutonium operations, the report said. Current analysis doesn’t account for transportation, shipping, personnel access and material flow, it added.

That critique echoes a report by the Government Accountability Office, which said time and cost estimates to produce pits, including 30 per year at the lab, are severely lacking and could make it difficult for federal managers to avoid cost overruns, delays and other problems.

Ramping up pit production demands detailed scheduling, a careful accounting of costs and clear estimates of how long various tasks will take — none of which is being done by the agency in charge of nuclear weapons, the GAO said in the report.

The performance review said Triad’s leaders overall have shown commitment to make operations safer and more disciplined and to carry them out more efficiently but there’s considerable room for improvement.

“This has been a core focus area for Triad for several years, but floor-level work execution continued to lag expectations in several areas,” the report said.