Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
6/5/2015
Los Alamos National Laboratory is facing a proposed fine of $247,500 and must take corrective action to address “three violations of DOE classified information security requirements” and an incident of “high safety significance” that resulted in chlorine exposure for five workers, according to two separate Preliminary Notices of Violation released this week by the Department of Energy’s Office of Enforcement.
The security-related notice of violation is tied to a loss of classified matter that occurred in 2007 and was identified in 2012 by LANS workers at the Nevada National Security Site, who identified discrepancies between the contents of a Secret/Restricted Data Weapons Data shipment and its documentation. Despite documentation confirming the shipment, the workers “concluded that the security event item had not been shipped from LANL in 2007,” according to the notice of violation. A subsequent DOE investigation identified three violations: a failure to “factually reconstruct the security event to the greatest extent possible” in the follow-up LANS inquiry report, failure to identify the inconsistencies that led to incorrect assumptions, and a lack of comprehensive self-assessments, according to the notice of violation. Incorrect assumptions included NNSS personnel’s conclusion that the item had never been shipped, while the LANS report assumed that “the most likely disposition of the security event item was through approved destruction,” the notice says. The DOE found fault with the latter, noting a previous reduction in security measures at the item’s location. According to the notice, the incident “went unrecognized for over five years” and now warrants the proposed $247,500 civil penalty.
The second notice of violation involved a March 2013 “job scoping activity associated with legacy apparatus removal” during which five LANS workers were exposed to chlorine due to an unintentional release of the chemical. The incident, which had the “potential to cause serious physical harm to workers,” was the result of a “lack of work definition for the scoping activity” and occurred in part because “LANS did not document the potential hazards and associated controls involving chlorine trifluoride (CTF) and breakdown products.” According to the notice, LANS did not conduct the necessary exposure assessment after the event but has made “substantial progress” and has taken some corrective actions such as increasing “subject matter expert involvement in work planning processes.” Although the incident warrants a civil penalty of $150,000, the NNSA has proposed no penalties at this time due to the decision to significantly reduce LANS’s Fiscal Year 2014 award fee, according to the notice.
In a statement concerning the security-related notice of violation, Los Alamos spokeswoman Nancy Ambrosiano said in a written response, “The Laboratory takes security very seriously and fully cooperates with the PAAA investigations. We are currently evaluating the Preliminary Notice of Violation to formulate our response.” When asked about the chlorine exposure-related notice of violation, Ambrosiano said, “The Laboratory takes worker health and safety very seriously and fully cooperates with the PAAA investigations. We’re currently evaluating the Preliminary Notice of Violation to determine any needed additions to our safety protocols.” LANS has been given 30 days to respond to both notices.
