LANL REVIEW IDENTIFIES WIDESPREAD CRITICALITY SAFETY ISSUES

A review of criticality safety issues at Los Alamos National Laboratory has revealed widespread problems that led to the ongoing shutdown of its Plutonium Facility last summer, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report released last week. The report describes Los Alamos’ Criticality Safety Infractions Causal Analysis, which identified five “root causal factors” and 22 “contributing causes” that led to a series of criticality safety infractions that precipitated the shutdown at the Plutonium Facility. According to the review, operations at the facility appeared to be “reactive, rather than executing to a strategic plan with prioritized actions” and issues found in criticality safety events aren’t investigated to reveal issues and corrective actions, including improvements needed in management. The report also said that poor communications “reflects insufficient management attention to the causes of infractions and needed corrective actions.”