Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
11/14/2014
National Security Technologies officials are working to improve the safety culture at the Nevada National Security Site after being prompted to shape up in a recent letter from Nevada Field Office Manager Steve Lawrence. The National Nuclear Safety Administration hasn’t released the letter from Lawrence, but it was prompted by a series of incidents, including a June 13 chemical explosion at the Nonproliferation Test and Evaluation Complex (NPTEC) involving a drum of isopropyl alcohol that resulted in worker injuries. Among the changes NSTec has made is naming Jim Holt VP for Operations this summer and tapping former NNSA headquarters official Chris Deeney as VP for Programs. “We have looked across the board,” Holt told NS&D Monitor. “We’re looking at how do we shift the culture where people seem to not want to raise questions and stop work when they have issues. They want to just find a way to get the work done.”
Holt said that attitude has been in place for decades at the site, dating to its time as the main nuclear testing site for the United States. “This was always known as a site that you could come out here and get work done and we’re shifting that,” he said. “We’re saying we’re only going to get it done in an appropriate fashion. This is not a place where you can just come out and do things because you want to. We really do have to follow the formality of our operations. That’s everything from the nuclear work to high hazard operations to low hazard—it doesn’t matter. That’s across the board.”
Chemical Review Ongoing
Holt also said NSTec officials were still in the process of reviewing all chemicals stored across the company and instituting a much more stringent chemical management program in reaction to the June chemical explosion. In that accident, two workers were injured when a 55-gallon drum holding a small amount of isopropyl alcohol exploded when they moved the drum to remove the isopropyl alcohol. In the June Nevada heat and with a small amount of chemical in the drum, organic peroxide compounds had formed while the isopropyl alcohol evaporated, creating a little-known explosion hazard, Holt said.
After the incident, Holt said site officials received feedback that such an explosion could take place, but site officials were unaware. “We had no information. It was one of those things we were just absolutely shocked we could’ve had an explosion, particularly of the force to blow the bottom of a 55-gallon drum off,” Holt said.
Explosion Called ‘Wholly Preventable’
The explosion left one worker with cuts to his right leg and right foot as well as burns to his face, while the other employee only suffered from ringing in his ears. An Accident Investigation Board (AIB) report released in August suggested that “the explosion was wholly preventable and that the development and effective implementation of a comprehensive company-level Chemical Safety and Lifecycle Management (CSLM) Program and a robust facility-specific Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP) would have prevented the event.” In fact, the AIB report said the area where the drum exploded was not authorized for the storage of flammable/combustible substances even through chemicals of unknown origin and content had been stored there for several years.
The AIB also faulted the safety culture at NPTEC. “Personnel were reluctant to raise concerns, due in part to lack of effective resolution from previous attempts to address problems,” the AIB said. “Concerns with bulk storage of aging chemicals were assigned the lowest possible priority, or actions deferred, and challenges regarding bulk storage of legacy chemicals were not elevated to higher levels of management.” The Board also said NPTEC was not adequately staffed or managed to ensure safe operations.
