Nine containers of transuranic waste stored at Area G of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico did not, as of late July, meet the acceptance criteria for disposal further south at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
The situation was cited in a nonconformance report from the U.S. Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office, which oversees WIPP, and then noted in a July 26 activity report from Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff as Los Alamos.
The containers failed to meet “basis of knowledge” requirements for oxidizing chemicals that the Energy Department implemented to prevent a radioactive material release similar to a February 2014 incident in which a drum from Los Alamos burst open in the WIPP underground. That radiation release forced the underground disposal facility offline for about three years.
“These energetic reactions can result in greater airborne respirable releases of radioactive material than is typically analyzed,” according to the DNFSB.
The Energy Department has since strengthened its WIPP information requirements on the contents inside TRU waste containers and their risk of overheating and combustion. The July 26 DNFSB document offered no further specifics on the waste inside the containers and how it was generated.
The drums mentioned in the DNFSB report might not have actually been slated for shipment to WIPP, a source said Wednesday.
Los Alamos operations manager Triad National Security, which owns two of the nine containers, issued a “potential inadequacies of safety analysis” due to the possible interaction of polyols, such as cheesecloth, and nitric acid in the containers. Cheesecloth, used over the years at Los Alamos for cleaning up glove boxes and mopping up spills, can evidently pose an ignition risk, according to some research.
Los Alamos legacy cleanup contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B), which controls the rest of the nonconforming containers, is reviewing the situation, according to the DNFSB report. N3B did not respond to requests for comment.
