An Operational Safety Board was convened in mid-April at the Y-12 National Security Complex when a crane maneuvering a nuclear weapons component did not respond as expected.
According to an April 15 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the incident occurred at Beta-2E, which houses the assembly and disassembly operations at Y-12 in Oak Ridge.
The report said workers encountered a situation where an overhead crane “continued to lower a component after the worker operating the crane had released the ‘down’ pushbutton.”
The worker immediately pressed the “up” pushbutton, which reportedly stopped the crane in place. However, this put the component “in an intermediate configuration that relied upon the hoist for stability.”
Ellen Boatner, a spokeswoman for Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, confirmed that the component involved was a nuclear weapons part.
“Assembly/Disassembly Operations management approached recovery from the issue in a very formal manner by developing a recovery plan and convening an operational safety board (OSB) meeting to approve the actions specified in the plan,” the safety board report stated.
The report also stated that, in accordance with actions approved by the OSB, the assembly/disassembly personnel at Beta-2E placed the weapons component in a “secure configuration” and disconnected it from the crane.
The April report said maintenance personnel were evaluating the crane at the facility.
Boatner said “maintenance was performed” on the crane, which was later returned to operation.
