Glovebox component vendor Central Research Laboratories, Red Wing, Minn., again popped up in connection with a glovebox breach at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s PF-4 Plutonium Facility, this time after a close call involving a plutonium machining operator.
On Sept. 23, an “ergonomic” glovebox glove assembly provided by Central Research Laboratories unexpectedly disconnected from the glovebox where the operator was working, according to a lab description of the incident.
It was the second time in 2020 that this particular operator in this particular glovebox had this sort of accident with a Central Research Laboratories “oval” type glove port, according to the lab. The first such accident was in July.
Nevertheless, “there is no quality issue associated with this event,” a Los Alamos spokesperson wrote Thursday in an email. Central Research Laboratories remains “a qualified vendor for the Laboratory and as such gets periodic reviews for quality conformance control. No specific visit is planned for this event.”
According to the lab’s report on the September breach, these particular Central Research Laboratories assemblies can disconnect from a glovebox if they’re swung too far laterally. The hazard is more pronounced for someone like the operator involved with the September and July incidents, who according to Los Alamos is tall and broad. However, the lab said, someone of smaller stature was able to replicate the failure in a clean glovebox.
The lab spokesperson said Los Alamos would continue to use Central Research Laboratories’ equipment, and that the vendor’s oval glove ports account for about 2% of the glove ports in PF-4. The lab has reminded users not to stretch the equipment too far from side to side.
Radiation controls worked essentially as designed during the September and July incidents, according to the lab. Each time, the operator had some contamination on his coveralls, but none internally or on his skin, the lab said in the report about the more recent accident. The breaches did not cause any radioactive release, and nobody was injured during either response, the lab spokesperson wrote.
Los Alamos also mentioned Central Research Laboratories in connection with a more serious rad leak at PF-4 in June that affected 15 workers. At least one of these people and “likely” more had internal contamination after a glovebox glove’s thumb wore through and leaked plutonium, the lab said.
The glovebox that leaked was equipped on some ports with Central Research Laboratories gloves that “have a different tactile feel and provide more dexterity” than other types, according to the lab’s report about the June incident, which did not mention any other glovebox vendor by name.
“Although failures are relatively rare considering the number of gloves and times used, they are known to occur for a variety of reasons periodically,” the Los Alamos spokesperson told Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor this week. “Los Alamos National Laboratory is constantly exploring ways to assure glove integrity and quality. This work is a heavily scrutinized part of our safety envelope with radiological activities.”
