Safety analysis engineering personnel of the Pantex contractor are preparing a “justification for continued operations” after an “electrostatic discharge (ESD) scenario” involving Army-Navy containers prompted the National Nuclear Security Administration to on May 5 declare a “code blue” at Pantex that paused operations on a nuclear warhead program until at least May 29, according to a recently released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site report submitted on that date. “The [unresolved safety question determination] was positive and operations on the affected weapon program remain paused,” the report states. “CNS safety analysis engineering personnel are preparing a justification for continued operations.”
NNSA spokesperson Shelley Laver earlier told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing that the “code blue” involved a “new hazard scenario” for B61 and W80 weapons operations, and was initiated on May 3 and closed two weeks ago. Laver said the hazard scenario did not pose any safety risks to plant workers or the public.
Another recently released DNFSB site report, dated May 8, noted that NNSA declared the “code blue” to address the ESD hazards for “packaging certain configurations” in Army-Navy containers. “Declaration of a Code Blue results from an issue’s impact on NNSA’s scheduled deliverables,” that report states. “The Code Blue authorizes the creation of a response team that will work on the issue until it is resolved. CNS issued Information Engineering Releases to the Design Agencies and is developing plans for a separate long term solution to address [Army-Navy] container ESD hazards outside the scope of the Code Blue response.”
According to the May 8 report, a Hazard Analysis Task Team in March discovered that the material used in packaging certain configurations of the two weapons programs in Army-Navy containers did not prevent ESD hazards to the configurations being packaged. “CNS previously paused operations for one of the affected programs for a Potential Inadequacy of the Safety Analysis (PISA) related to the validity of the Weapon Response Summary Document and was also working to address ESD concerns related to use of aerosol cans,” that report states.
