The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) work planning and control processes and biosafety programs are largely effective, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) said in a review released late last month. The review found that LANL managing contractor Los Alamos National Security (LANS) “has established the fundamental elements of work control processes at LANL to adequately identify activity-level work scopes and analyze and control hazards.” These processes involve identifying and assessing hazards in research and development, maintenance, operations, and other activities, and ensuring guidelines are developed to control hazards.
The review said LANL “has made significant progress in research work planning and control” and noted that personnel were experienced, knowledgeable, and appropriately trained, but identified some issues with maintenance of research equipment, hazard analysis documentation, and hazard control implementation. The review highlighted two incidents that occurred due to “inadequate implementation of established controls,” including a July 2015 event in which two LANS workers conducted equipment maintenance under low hazard activity requirements although the hazard level was later determined to be moderate. A higher hazard categorization would have required a hazard analysis and an integrated work document that serves to identify a given activity’s hazards and controls, the review said.
EA conducted its first-ever targeted review of biological safety programs, which involved nine lab divisions and 13 lab groups at LANL conducting research in bioenergy, biosecurity, public health, and environmental science, the EA said. The review found that LANL’s biosafety programs “are effective and comply with Federal regulations” and biological research work control processes “adequately defined the work scopes, identified the appropriate hazards, and implemented the correct controls.” It also concluded that the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Field Office has highly qualified technical staff, but noted a “significant shortage of staff in the Facility Representative Program,” with six vacancies out of 12 authorized positions.
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