The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a final proposal to fine the University of California system $3-million because large amounts of classified information were removed from Los Alamos National Laboratory and discovered in a subcontractor’s trailer in October 2006. The university managed the nuclear-weapons laboratory until June 2006 and remains part of a larger management team.

In an announcement on Friday that made the penalty final, the department said it rejected the university’s assertion of mitigating circumstances, including that the department had previously rated as “effective” the university’s security performance and safeguards. The department said that “simple corrections could have prevented” the removal of the documents.

The department noted that it could have proposed a fine as high as $5.8-million. The university now has 30 days to pay or appeal the fine. —Jeffrey Brainard