LANL records string of radioactive glove box breaches

May 17—Los Alamos National Laboratory had five breaches of the glove boxes used to handle radioactive materials in a four-week period, an unusually high number in such a short time.

The lab had three breaches in these sealed compartments at its plutonium facility between late March and mid-April and two more in the following week, according to the most recent reports by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the federal agency that provides recommendations and advice regarding public health and safety issues at Department of Energy defense nuclear facilities.

None of the breaches contaminated workers' skin or led to them breathing in radioactive elements, the reports said.

But this string of mishaps raises questions about the challenges the lab will face when it ramps up production of plutonium bomb cores, known as pits, which will demand more use of the glove boxes.

In an email, lab spokesman Steven Horak characterized the latest breaches as minor.

"Gloves normally fail due to wear or abrasion resulting in very small breaches," Horak wrote. "The recent events were typical of those types of failures."

The gloves' thickness varies depending on the dexterity and shielding — known as lead lining — that's required, Horak wrote.

But a nuclear watchdog group decried this series of breaches, arguing they reflect a systemic problem that's likely to grow worse as plutonium activity increases with pit production.

"It's just indicative of more problems to come," said Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico.

The safety board's April 14 report indicates workers contributed to two of the three breaches that occurred in the previous three-week period.

One incident was linked to repetitive motion using a hand pump, the report said. Workers believed this caused undue wear on the glove, and efforts now are being made to replace the manual operation with an automated system, it said.

Another incident involved workers doing "vigorous wire brushing" of a part in what the report described as an infrequent activity.

The April 21 report said workers identified a breach while conducting a radiological survey after they pulled their hands from the gloves attached to the compartments.

A second breach was discovered after workers did radiological monitoring at the exit.

Glove box breaches and mishaps have become fairly common at the lab, some of them contaminating workers.

A year ago, three breaches occurred in a one-month period.

A January 2022 incident released double the yearly limit for airborne contaminants in a work area. Four workers were contaminated, with one having to undergo a chelation treatment for removing heavy metals from the body.

That incident prompted the National Nuclear Security Administration, a U.S. Energy Department branch, to form an investigative panel.

In a subsequent incident a month later, an employee damaged a glove attached to a sealed compartment while manually moving material with a disabled trolley through the enclosed space, causing enough of a release to contaminate the person's face.

Another employee noticed contaminants on a glove that might have been punctured in a previous shift and not caught by the crew that regularly inspects the compartments.

At the time, safety board inspectors said workers need to be trained better on best practices. They noted at least one worker failed to comply with guidance put in place after a June 2020 glove box breach that exposed 14 workers to airborne contaminants.

Horak noted the latest incidents occurred in older compartments but with newer gloves.

Gloves are changed periodically based on frequency of use and other factors, he wrote. The lab is always looking for ways to maximize the gloves' performance, including through materials used and manufacturers, he added.

Coghlan said despite the plutonium facility's safety lapses reported over the years, the nuclear security agency has decided no corrective actions are needed in the planned pit operations. This means the public won't get to comment directly on pit production as part of the lab's sitewide environmental analysis, he said.

"The lab and NNSA are treating expanded pit production as a done deal, despite this never-ending stream of nuclear safety incidences," Coghlan said.