By Dan Parsons
Two contractors were exposed to highly hazardous beryllium, a metal used in nuclear weapons, while performing renovations at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico recently.
On Aug. 30, the subcontractors, working in Building 983 room 122, a conference room, were not wearing proper personal protective equipment, Luke Frank, a spokesman for Sandia said in an emailed statement. A job safety hazard evaluation was not completed to address the potential beryllium hazard before conducting the work.
“There was no spread of beryllium contamination elsewhere in the building,” Frank said. “Sandia safety and environmental teams indicate that it is highly unlikely the two subcontractors working in the room had any skin or inhalation exposure to airborne contaminants. No rashes, respiratory or other symptoms were reported.”
Sandia’s in-house industrial hygiene experts advised the crew to wash their hands and faces with soap and water as a precautionary measure. Beryllium has a range of nuclear applications and may cause cancer and other health problems.
The source of the contamination was tracked to Sandia’s Z-Machine in the same building where the contractors were working.
The Z-Machine is one of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) three main high-energy-density physics facilities, which run experiments on materials used in U.S. nuclear warheads. The NNSA uses it to collect data about atomic materials under conditions similar to full-yield nuclear tests. Using magnetic fields, the Z-Machine bombards tiny samples of material with intense energy to help stockpile stewards understand how they are aging.
Beryllium is a light metal used in materials research, defense systems, and testing at Sandia.
It is also a nasty substance that is immediately harmful to human health. Direct contact with beryllium causes a rash, but none were found on the workers exposed at Sandia, Frank said. Inhaling or contacting beryllium can increase the risk of developing chronic beryllium disease and lung cancer, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Some workers exposed to beryllium quickly develop symptoms such as shortness of breath, coughing, and fever, all of which can be severe. Others develop symptoms months or years after initial exposure, and the symptoms can worsen even after they are no longer exposed to the substance, according to OSHA.
In the recent case at Sandia, safety personnel surveyed the area and detected minute amounts of beryllium in the space above the ceiling tiles in one room. One surface sample measured at the threshold for contamination and another was slightly elevated. Four additional surface samples from the room, surrounding rooms, hallways and equipment used by the subcontractors all tested below the contamination limit.
When beryllium was detected, all work was immediately stopped, and the room was cordoned off to perform the inspections. Outside of specific events where contamination is suspected or detected, the Z-Machine facility is tested quarterly in 74 locations for beryllium surface contamination to verify that beryllium levels are below contamination limits, Frank said.
The Z-Machine is the only operational area at the lab where beryllium is handled regularly in experiments, Frank said.
Extremely low levels of airborne beryllium are present in the Z-Machine main room, which has beryllium contamination control areas to support routine Z-Machine operations. These areas have established procedures and controls to minimize beryllium contamination during operations, Frank said.
“Rigorous routine sampling in these areas verifies that surface contamination is within prescribed limits,” Frank said. “Regular room cleaning mitigates any accumulation of beryllium. However, areas above ceilings that are not regularly cleaned can accumulate beryllium dust that gradually reaches detectable levels.”
Those areas of the ceiling that were not previously cleaned on a routine schedule have now been added to the “beryllium-area inventory for appropriate action, as necessary,” Frank said.
“Sandia’s top priority is the safety of its employees and contractors and is following its well-established safety improvement process to investigate this issue to ensure it does not happen again.”
