CHU OUTLINES NEAR-TERM PLANS TO STRENGTHEN PF-4 AT LOS ALAMOS

Los Alamos National Laboratory is planning to remove or repackage more than 500 kilograms of plutonium at its Plutonium Facility during Fiscal Year 2013 in an effort to reduce the potential exposure risks in the event of a building collapse, Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently told the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. In his March 27 letter, Chu outlined a series of near-term actions aimed at reducing the risks of a seismic-related collapse at the aging Plutonium Facility, responding to DNFSB prodding on near-term actions earlier this year. Chu also said Los Alamos is reducing the plutonium inventory limit on the first floor of the facility, reduce the facility’s vault plutonium limit, implement a new safety-class container for heat source plutonium, and remove one kilogram of heat-source plutonium from the facility’s first floor.

He also said conceptual designs have been developed for two structural modifications to the facility that will be installed over the next two or three years to reduce the likelihood of a structural collapse. The NNSA has already spent millions upgrading PF-4 to address potential seismic vulnerabilities. “The identified near-term risk reduction measures will further reduce potential consequences of a seismic event,” Chu said. “Since PF-4 can provide its confinement safety function based on our current seismic analysis and the identified near-term risk reduction measures will further reduce potential consequences, I have concluded that PF-4 can continue to operate safely while longer-term structural modifications are completed.”