LOS ALAMOS WORKER SUFFERS BURNS DURING WASTE PROCESSING

A worker at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in recent weeks suffered second-degree burns during low-level waste processing at the lab’s Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, according to a newly released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site representative report. The accident, which occurred the week ending Dec. 2, was caused by equipment failure and resulted in the worker being “sprayed in the face with 25 percent sodium hydroxide solution resulting in localized second degree burns to his lips,” according to the report. “The operator was adjusting the setting of a caustic solution addition pump when the failure occurred,” the report says. “Maintenance of the caustic addition system had been performed the day before the event. … The maintenance work package called for the valves to be repositioned according to operations personnel instructions upon completion of the evolution, but the work was completed after hours when no operations personnel were present. The valves were left in an abnormal line-up and valve position status was not effectively communicated to operations personnel. The next day facility personnel did not perform a procedurally required pre-operational valve alignment check prior to beginning low level waste processing activities. As a result, the caustic addition system was not in the expected configuration when it failed and sprayed the operator,” the report adds.