LANL violations

No comment yet from NNSA on latest LANL crit safety violation in pit production facility In 2016, LANL was the only one of the Department of Energy’s nuclear facilities to receive a failing “red,” or does not meet safety expectations, safety rating for criticality. No comment has been available from the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, of which the Los Alamos lab is part. The DNSFB’s recent report says that on Aug. 18, the crew that had cast the pit shell moved it “into a location that already contained plutonium metal,” exceeding plutonium limits. When too much plutonium is put in close quarters, a criticality reaction can take place. In this case, the violation was discovered three days later when the shell was moved again. The DNFSB report said “this was the first shell cast in the facility in about four years and the second time that a restarted operation encountered conduct of operations issues related to the criticality safety of material movements shortly