Workers at Bldg. 9731 Experience Respiratory Issues
NS&D Monitor
6/12/2015
At least five employees at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant have experienced respiratory problems in recent months at Building 9731 – also known as the Pilot Plant because it was the original uranium-enrichment test facility during the wartime Manhattan Project. There are reports that the illness may be associated with some research activities involving the processing of lithium inside the building, but Steven Wyatt – the public affairs chief for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office – refused to discuss the lithium involvement. Wyatt acknowledged that the Development Division, the Y-12 research hub, had been doing research activities in 9731. He also confirmed that five employees had been affected by some type of “irritant” in the air at the 72-year-old building.
The concern first surfaced in February when a security guard experienced “throat irritation and coughing” upon entering the Y-12 facility. Some workers also reported skin irritation after visiting the site. A Feb. 27 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said the cause of the irritation was believed to be “vapors or dust from an activity to process lithium hydroxide.” Wyatt refused to say whether the operations involved lithium.
Lithium compounds are used in the second stage of thermonuclear warheads, but Y-12 typically provides little information about the lithium components work that’s done at the Oak Ridge installation. Wyatt said the five reports of employees being overcome by airborne irritants occurred during a two-month period. “All five employees were sent to Y-12 medical [center] for evaluation and were released,” he said. Wyatt said the Development Division’s research activities at the building were shut down for about a month earlier this year but have since resumed.
Problems May be Tied to ‘General Air Quality Irritants’
The historic facility has been used for public tours in recent years, dating back to the 2010 Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge. But it will not be part of this annual festival this year, and tours of the facility have been suspended for the time being. Wyatt emphasized that no tours of 9731 were done during the time in which the research activities were taking place there. He also said no visitors were exposed to irritants at the site.
The federal spokesman said the source of the problem at the site may be attributed to “general air-quality irritants.” He said the plant’s industrial hygiene organization had taken “extensive air samples” in the building to try to detect any previously unknown hazards. An effort has been made to identify all potential airborne irritants associated with the Development Division project. “Engineering controls, including the use of additional fans and other process modifications, have been put into place to reduce irritant levels to below human detection,” Wyatt said.
Building Nominated for Landmark Status
Building 9731, the first building completed at Y-12 in March 1943, was used during the wartime Manhattan Project to test the electromagnetic devices known as calutrons. The equipment helped separate the uranium-235 for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, and some original calutrons are still housed at the facility. The building has been nominated for National Historic Landmark status on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Staff member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said Building 9731 is “not normally occupied,” but noted that a technician had been doing research activities in February involving the evaporation of a lithium hydroxide solution. A “small puddle” of condensate from the activity was found at the site by a hazard materials team that responded, and the research equipment was shut down, a staff report stated. In a May 1 report by the DNFSB, it was noted that Consolidated Nuclear Security – the plant’s managing contractor – had hired an outside consultant to sample for “other possible organic contaminants.” Also, CNS management posted the building as an area that required respiratory protection. It’s not clear if that restriction is still in place because the research activities have resumed at the site.
CNS Releases Details on UPF Procurements
NS&D Monitor
6/12/2015
The National Nuclear Security Administration and its managing contractor at Y-12, Consolidated Nuclear Security, have been reluctant to release detailed contract information on spending to date for the Uranium Processing Facility – one of the biggest government projects of recent vintage. Much of the current funding is going to the design effort for UPF that’s being carried out by multi-company Basic Ordering Agreements (BOAs). CNS this week released some limited information on some of the smaller procurements for the multibillion-dollar project. “During calendar year 2015, the UPF project has awarded more than $10 million in new contracts for products and services, and more than 85 percent of the businesses receiving awards were small businesses. All of these contracts were awarded by Bechtel National Inc,” Richard Brown, the UPF procurement manager, said in a statement.
Bechtel is managing much of the contracting through its NNSA-approved agreement with Consolidated Nuclear Security. Companies that have received contract awards so far this year include:
— All Safe Industries, a small veteran-owned business, received a purchase order in February to provide safety consumables — hard hats;
— GEM Technologies, also a small business, received in March a subcontract for demolition of Building 9107:
— In April, CAXperts GrmbH, a small business, received a purchase order for computer software licenses, fees and hardware maintenance;
— Annams Systems Corp., a small business, received a purchase order for software license for UPF;
— Intergraph Corp. received an order for computer software licenses, fees and hardware maintenance;
— M&W Drilling, a small business, received a subcontract for monitoring, well plug and abandonment;
— Brozelco Fedeal Services LLC, a small business, received a purchase order for rotary kilns, calciner;
— Integraph Corp. received a subcontract for supplier training services; and
— K.S. Ware & Associates LLC, a small woman-owned business, received a subcontract for geological exploration and soil borings
HFIR Resumes Operations After 80-Day Outage
NS&D Monitor
6/12/2015
The High Flux Isotope Reactor, one of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s critically important research facilities, returned to operation this week following an 80-day outage – easily the longest of the year – for extensive maintenance and a series of upgrades. The 85-megawatt research reactor reached full power by noon June 9, with no complications. The plan for the current cycle is to operate for 24 days, shutting down on July 3 for an 18-day maintenance and refueling period.
Research reactors chief Tim Powers said provide a list of the major projects accomplished over the past three months: Lab workers installed additional seismic supports for the primary coolant system; replaced radiation monitoring instruments on the ground floor of the reactor; replaced medium- and low-pressure steam piping and “associated reducing stations”; installed a new instrument air dryer to ensure proper quality of air to operate pneumatic valves and other equipment; upgraded the stack monitoring recorder; upgraded the smoke detection system in the main control room; replaced a hydrogen circulator in the Cold Source and installed a new oxygen detector in the area; prepared a new H2 compressor for installation at the Cold Source in the fall; installed a new neutron-flight tube for one of the experimental beam lines; installed cameras for monitoring the beam lines from a remote location; and replaced the fuel pool coolant pump bearings.
