Kenneth Fletcher
NS&D Monitor
9/26/2014
Numerous operations and security issues at Savannah River’s tritium facilities have led the Department of Energy and the site’s managing contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, to step up oversight of operations at the plant. In July, the facilities experienced 10 events involving conduct of operations, quality control or security deficiencies, leading SRNS to place senior supervisors on a watch to oversee operations that was shadowed by National Nuclear Security Administration officials. Then in August there were “anomalies” in a data sheet for the calibration of tritium air monitors. “Disciplined conduct of operations is fundamental to the operation of all our NNSA facilities. We take issues like these very seriously. We have enhanced our oversight of contractor operations, and we are closely following the contractor’s corrective actions,” NNSA Savannah River spokeswoman Amy Boyette said in a written response this week.
The issue with the entries in the data sheet was caught by other SRNS workers. “Our employees, using the peer-checking that is part of our standard operating process, noted anomalies with the entries before the equipment was placed back in service, and the calibrations were completed and verified again with full documentation,” SRNS spokeswoman Angie French said in a written response. She declined to comment on whether disciplinary actions were taken against any employees involved.
The numerous incidents at the facility in July include a failure to follow procedures resulting in a blown rupture disk, an inadvertent transfer of contaminated gas and a power loss to the Tritium Extraction Facility, according to an Aug. 1 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site rep report. In August the power supply failed to the process chiller programmable logic controller, and operators subsequently accidently shut off the ventilation for the tritium extraction facilities.
At Savannah River’s tritium area SRNS extracts and stores tritium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program. Notably, the issues come during uncertainty on whether tritium operations will be folded into Consolidated Nuclear Security’s Y-12/Pantex contract. Tritium employees have been worried about a change in benefits and management is concerned about the operational impacts that would accompany a loss of talent and knowledge if a large number of employees transfer to other jobs at the site to maintain their current benefits.
SRNS has brought in “senior operations experts from across the company” to improve performance and the “full level” of disciplined operations, French said. “As with any issue or concern, the SRTE management team looks at each to learn the underlying cause, determine how to prevent recurrence and ways to learn lessons that can be used both internally and across the site,” she said. “It is important that tritium operations be conducted in a formal and carefully controlled manner. The country trusts us with important missions in support of the national defense, and that work demands operational excellence to ensure the safety and security of our people, the public, the environment, and our facilities.”
