More Lapses Found at Los Alamos

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Friday that it had found a series of new safety violations at Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, including a 2002 incident in which seven lab workers were exposed to “significant plutonium contamination.”

The announcement, which adds to brewing concerns among federal officials about safety and management at the lab, was made days before the department is due to decide whether to renew the University of California’s contract to run the facility.

The department’s National Nuclear Security Administration said the lab had violated nuclear safety rules in at least half a dozen incidents from 2000 to 2002.

During one of those, in March 2002, seven workers “received uptakes” of small amounts of radioactive plutonium after a worker cut through a plutonium-contaminated copper pipe without appropriate safety analysis, planning or controls, according to an April 16 letter from Linton F. Brooks, the department’s acting chief for nuclear weapons, to lab officials.

Brooks wrote that “significant plutonium contamination was spread throughout the room.” The incident took place in the Los Alamos facility known as TA-55, the only facility in the nation authorized to handle all phases of plutonium work.

Although no one suffered serious harm, that was the result of “fortuitous circumstances,” not of effective controls or procedures, Brooks wrote.

Another violation, in September 2002, involved two workers who climbed to the roof of a lab building without authorization while X-rays were being taken inside of weapons components, potentially exposing the workers to hazardous levels of radiation. They were not harmed.

Brooks also cited “multiple” safety violations at several lab buildings containing experimental nuclear reactors.

None of the incidents caused “significant consequences” for lab workers, the public or the environment, energy officials found.

“We are taking this action because of the long-standing problem of Los Alamos management to recognize and address nuclear safety deficiencies at an institutional level,” said Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons complex.

UC and Los Alamos officials said Friday the Energy Department’s criticisms were a matter of great concern, although not a surprise.

“These incidents have been known to us for some time and the problems are being resolved,” said UC spokesman Michael Reese. “We take these and all safety violations extremely seriously and we have been and will continue to work with the Energy Department to make the necessary improvements.”

Lab spokesman Jim Danneskiold said the announcement Friday followed a series of contacts between the lab’s leadership and Energy Department officials. The laboratory “is taking aggressive steps to address these issues,” he said. “We are fully committed to trying to prevent any recurrence of these problems.”

Citing the significance of the violations, Energy Department officials said they were assessing a $385,000 fine, although Los Alamos, as a nonprofit institution, is exempt from paying it. This was the second time in five months the lab has been cited for safety violations: A $220,000 fine was assessed in December for unsafe storage of plutonium-contaminated waste.

As a result of the most recent violations, Los Alamos managers will be required to give monthly briefings to Energy Department officials on steps being taken to resolve the problems. The first such briefing is set for next week.

The University of California is scrambling to hang onto the contract it has held for 60 years to run Los Alamos for the Department of Energy.

In recent months, the university’s management of Los Alamos has come under intense federal scrutiny because of allegations of widespread theft and financial fraud at the New Mexico facility.

In response to those problems, many of which were made public by two whistle-blowing investigators in November, the university instituted a series of reforms and replaced or reassigned all top managers at the lab, including its director.

Brooks, in fact, praised the lab’s new management in his April 16 letter, saying his latest dealings with lab officials represent “a significant ... improvement over prior interactions” with Los Alamos managers.

Energy Department officials have said they will make a decision by April 30 whether to break UC’s contract to run Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, its sister nuclear weapons facility.