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 glove, according to the lab. The first such accident was in July.
According to the lab’s report, the glove assemblies can disconnect from the gloveboxes 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.
Los Alamos did not say if it planned to replace the Central Research Laboratories equipment. The lab for now 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, the lab said. 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.
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.
“Glove breach issues are a continual challenge, and the Laboratory is constantly exploring ways to assure glove integrity and quality,” a Los Alamos spokesperson told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing this summer after the June contamination in PF-4.
