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United States: Nuclear Facility Must Improve Safety A U.S. nuclear oversight board last month criticized criticality safety violations at the Energy Department’s Y-12 nuclear weapon facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., warning that safety conditions at the aging complex “may soon be in a deficient condition,” Energy Daily reported today (see GSN, March 28). Safety lapses could lead to an accidental chain reaction and release of radiation at the facility, which manages and maintains nuclear materials, evaluates the integrity of the U.S. nuclear stockpile and disposes of retired nuclear weapons, according to the Daily. Building 9212 at the facility is of particular concern because of its age and a history of safety problems, according to a Nov. 13 letter from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to Everet Beckner, the deputy administrator for defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Criticality safeguards — measures to ensure that fissile materials remain stable enough to prevent a chain reaction — are “regressing” at the Y-12 plant, the board said, instructing the nuclear administration to submit a letter within 60 days to explain how the facility’s safety would be improved. “The recent criticality safety violations in Building 9212 have again given the board cause for concern, and point to a general neglect of criticality controls in the storage and handling of fissile material at Y-12,” the board said. “The most recent criticality safety violations were self-identified by the contractor, but the recurring nature of these violations clearly indicates that the contractor’s corrective actions to date are inadequate,” it added. The board recommended conducting safety reviews and standardizing nuclear handling programs and procedures to ensure that workers understand safety requirements at the plant (George Lobsenz, Energy Daily, Dec. 6).
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