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U.S. Energy Department Faults Los Alamos Workers’ Complacency for Causing Radiation Contamination
A U.S. Energy Department report found that complacency and poor federal oversight was behind a 2005 accident at the Los Alamos National Laboratory that led to the spread of small levels of radioactive material at several private homes, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Jan. 26). Certain properties of americium 241 limited the spread of the material, preventing the accident from being much worse, according to Douglas Minnema, chairman of the department’s Accident Investigation Board. The accident involved contamination by americium of 18 uranium nitride pellets that were then shipped from the Los Alamos plutonium facility to its Sigma site, AP reported. The mishap occurred on July 14 but was not discovered until July 25. By that time a worker had been exposed to the material. The man and his wife traveled to Kansas, and she went on to Colorado. Traces of radiation were later found in the employee’s home in New Mexico, his wife’s home in Colorado, and at a motel room and relative’s home in Kansas, AP reported. Contamination was also discovered in Pennsylvania after a package was shipped from the Sigma facility at Los Alamos to a naval research laboratory there. Workers at the plutonium facility packed radioactive pellets with the knowledge that contamination was possible. However, they made no attempt to determine contamination levels or let the recipients know about the potential for exposure. A Sigma employee, meanwhile, accepted the package without making sure required radiological controls had been activated. Also blamed in the report are the Los Alamos office of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which failed to discover workers were not following protocol, and the administration’s Washington office for not providing sufficient guidelines to the laboratory. Los Alamos officials said the incident posed no threat to the public. The laboratory is now developing plans to make facility policies clearer and to better train employees. Laboratory spokeswoman Kathy DeLucas declined to say whether any workers were disciplined because of the incident. The Energy Department said more than $250,000 has been spent in response to the accident (Associated Press, Feb. 16).
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