LANL explosion sends one to hospital and results in "imminent and substantial endangerment to human health"
An explosion in a densely staffed sector of Los Alamos National Laboratory on Sept. 14 left one employee with multiple cuts and prompted lab officials to request emergency approval from the New Mexico Environment Department to safely detonate two compromised vessels containing highly explosive hazardous waste.
Both of the approximately 1.7-ounce containers were "unstable due to heat exposure and the presence of etching on the vessel exterior," an incident report said.
"This condition posed an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment," the report reads
https://taosnews.com/stories/explosive-accidentally-detonates-at-lanl,52007
An explosion in a densely staffed sector of Los Alamos National Laboratory on Sept. 14 left one employee with multiple cuts and prompted lab officials to request emergency approval from the New Mexico Environment Department to safely detonate two compromised vessels containing highly explosive hazardous waste.
Both of the approximately 1.7-ounce containers were "unstable due to heat exposure and the presence of etching on the vessel exterior," an incident report said.
"This condition posed an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment," the report reads
https://taosnews.com/stories/explosive-accidentally-detonates-at-lanl,52007
Comments
But Wallace said this has been the greatest year in LANLs history. We have had few accidents, hired lots and lots of people, maybe not the best people, maybe not even average people, but lots and lots of people! He never mentioned if LANL actually did something but hiring people and not having incidents is what LANL does and if LANL can do that in any one year than that is on par with the very best years LANL ever had!
Said like a LANL cowboy. One incident is one too many. To blow it off like that is typical of the cowboy culture. How come places like Sandia, or Argonne don't have incidents, and on the very rare occasion they do they don't say it was just one incident.
One incident. Calm down. Wallace didn't cause the "incident." Get a grip.
September 30, 2018 at 5:49 PM
This poster just doesn't get it. Attitudes such as this are exactly why NNSA cancelled the last M&O contract at LANL. Read the article and it sounds like a chemistry lab where the explosion happened that sent the employee to the hospital. If this had happened at any other federal lab, management would be held accountable for the safety failure. Not so at LANL, where a legion of management such as 5:49 defend the acceptability of sending workers to the hospital as business as usual.
Time will show if NNSA picked better with Triad and if there will be any of the culture change that was prevalent in the RFP.
October 1, 2018 at 7:27 PM
Tell me how often Sandia and Argonne deal with "compromised vessels containing highly explosive hazardous waste." You clearly don't understand the concept of risk management and necessary acceptance of managed risk (not zero risk) to accomplish mission. Incidents will occur with some non-zero probability if the risk is not zero, which is unobtainable in the real world of nuclear operations. Get a clue.