Topeka ? A storm of controversy over a proposed federal bio-security lab has erupted over tornado activity.

Manhattan, Kan., has been selected by the Department of Homeland Security for the $650 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which will be used to research dangerous and infectious pathogens.

But Texas officials, who wanted NBAF built in San Antonio, have said Kansas’ tornadoes would make the lab unsafe.

The fact is: Both Manhattan in Riley County and San Antonio in Bexar County have seen tornadoes.

WeatherData Services Inc. of Wichita found that in the past 109 years there had been 15 significant tornadoes in Riley County, according to a release from the company on Wednesday. Significant tornadoes are those that resulted in at least one fatality and, or were greater than F-2 intensity. That compares with 11 in Bexar County.

But Tom Thornton, president of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, said debate over tornadoes misses the point.

If a tornado were to approach the lab, operations would shut down and any pathogens would be safely stored, he said.

He said the top-level security lab would be built like a “a vault within a vault within a submarine at the bottom of the ocean.”

But a Government Accountability Office report released this week said Homeland Security failed to adequately study the risks associated with a potential release of foot-and-mouth disease.

Kansas officials have disputed that report. A hearing by a House subcommittee on the GAO report and Homeland Security’s response had been scheduled for Thursday, but was canceled and a new date hasn’t been set.