Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
7/18/2014
Los Alamos National Laboratory’s nuclear criticality safety program is improving but remains “inadequate,” according to a Department of Energy report submitted to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board late last week. Operations at the lab’s Plutonium Facility have been paused since June of last year because of criticality safety concerns—the lab had 38 nuclear criticality safety infractions during Fiscal Year 2013, according to the report—and only recently have begun to be slowly restarted. The report noted that the lab was about a year into a multi-year “rebuilding” effort. “LANL has known weaknesses in providing personnel skilled in criticality safety and operations to serve as advisors to supervisors,” the report said. “Weaknesses have also been identified in clarity and completeness of developed controls, thoroughness of identification of abnormal conditions, and validation of criticality safety codes. The plutonium facility is also addressing posting and labeling issues.”
Los Alamos was the only site whose criticality safety program was cited as inadequate. Lawrence Livermore’s nuclear criticality safety program was rated “excellent.” The Y-12 National Security Complex, Nevada National Security Site, Sandia National Laboratories and the Pantex Plant all had programs that were rated “adequate,” though Y-12 had 71 criticality safety infractions during FY 2013, the report said. Y-12’s rating “was ‘not meeting expectations’ for most of FY-2013, but due to aggressive and responsive corrective actions and improvements, the rating was elevated to ‘meeting expectations’ at the end of FY-2013,” the report said. Pantex and Sandia did not have any criticality safety infractions in FY 2013, while Livermore and Nevada had one apiece.
Staffing Issues Highlighted
The report also highlighted criticality safety staffing issues at Los Alamos and Y-12, reflecting concerns that emerged after plutonium operations were paused at Los Alamos last year. With 19 full and part-time criticality safety employees at the end of Fiscal Year 2013 (eight fully qualified and 11 in training), the report noted that the criticality safety staff at Los Alamos was larger than it’s ever been in laboratory history. The report notes that the target for criticality safety staff at the lab is 23. “LANL is in the second year of a multi-year effort to rebuild its staff and criticality safety support capability,” the report said. “Experienced subcontractors are contributing to this effort.”
At Y-12, there are 87 criticality safety employees, including 30 supporting the Uranium Processing Facility project. The report said Y-12 has endured staff departures, but “has taken action to retain staff. NNSA is monitoring Y-12 staffing levels. Staff loss may be mitigated by salary actions, but salary actions alone may be insufficient.”
