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Containers with Potential Leaks Used at Los Alamos
A member of an independent safety board that oversees the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said containers similar to one that leaked plutonium last month are still in use at the facility, the Albuquerque Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 24). The container that leaked was sealed recently. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site representative C.H. Keilers Jr. wrote in a memorandum earlier this month that a plastic jar with the plutonium enclosed in a plastic bag inside appears to be the source of contamination. This jar and bag at the time were contained in a can. “The inner jar and bag failed, releasing powder into the can; the vinyl tape around the lid circumference then possibly failed, causing the release,” Keilers wrote. A laboratory spokesman called the Dec. 19 incident a “minor event.” Five workers were exposed to radiation below federal limits. The safety board in 1994 said that materials left over from the U.S. weapons program could be hazardous if they were not correctly stored. Plutonium has the potential to rupture plastic holding bags in older containers. Dozens of other jars containing plutonium are stored in cans, the Journal reported. Los Alamos is scheduled to repackage the material by 2010. The laboratory said it is ahead of schedule. Workers there “triplebagged” the container in which the leak occurred as well as similar containers. “We have a full recovery plan that we're executing,” said laboratory Nuclear Materials Technology division chief Steve Yarbro. “We meet with (safety board representatives) daily on our status and where we're at, and we're moving ahead in a very diligent, methodical fashion.” However, watchdogs claim the laboratory has been too slow on implementing recommendations made by the safety board. “It was to avoid this kind of accident that the recommendation was made,” said Greg Mello, executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group. “The longer plutonium is in contact with plastic, the worse the problem becomes” (John Arnold, Albuquerque Journal, Jan. 25). Meanwhile, the Energy Department’s inspector general found inadequate control over security badges at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the Associated Press reported yesterday. According to a report, 373 of the 1,261 employees who left the laboratory from 2002 to 2004 failed to return their badges. Eleven badges were also considered “accounted for” despite being lost or stolen. In addition, 36 of 140 employees kept security clearance for 10 to 60 days after leaving, and others did not follow protocol for terminating clearance. None of these employees took advantage of the security lapses, according to the inspector general’s report. “Nonetheless, any failure to properly control security badges and clearance terminations for departing Livermore employees has the potential to degrade the department's security posture,” the report said. It recommended improved internal controls for badge retrieval and Energy Department notification of security clearance termination. National Nuclear Security Administration Associate Administrator Michael Kane vowed to implement the recommended changes. “We are also aware that this inspection, and the subsequent results, are similar to results identified previously by the IG at Los Alamos National Laboratory,” Kane wrote in a response letter. “It is important to emphasize that the report does not cite any instances of inappropriate access to the laboratory or of any compromise of classified materials” (Associated Press/North County Times, Jan. 25).
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