The Department of Energy is looking at two incidents of skin contamination at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Facility in New Mexico during January, according to a recent report from a federal safety agency.
In one the likely source was a contaminated phone in a laboratory room, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) report dated Jan. 12 and posted on the board’s website. “The other event involved a hot particle from a heat source room” although follow-up surveys of the room failed to turn up any contamination, according to the DNFSB.
Both individuals were successfully decontaminated, according to the DNFSB. Nevertheless, given prior “lower magnitude” radioactive contaminations, such as one in December, a number of steps are planned to reduce the risk of additional episodes. These include more attention to devices such as phones that can be touched without gloves in radiological buffer areas, according to the report.
A Los Alamos lab spokesperson said in each of the January instances, workers followed established procedures for exiting the area, the contamination was removed quickly and “no dose was incurred to either individual from these two events.” Lab supervisors are working to prevent any recurrence, the spokesperson said. The latest incidents were first reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican.
