san francisco

The US Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is to shut down a nuclear weapons research facility for six months following a spate of accidents. A $175-million refurbishment will be carried out during the shutdown.

The Chemistry and Metallurgy Research facility, which has 350 staff, covers 550,000 square feet and houses laboratories for analytical chemistry and metallurgical studies on plutonium and other nuclear materials. Work at the facility supports programmes in nonproliferation and nuclear safeguards, weapons and stockpile surveillance, nuclear materials technologies, and waste treatment and minimization.

The shutdown was ordered by Alex Gancarz, who took over as the facility's safety director on 2 September. He said he was concerned that employees were not adhering properly to safety procedures. “I'm ordering this suspension of normal operations now so we don't see someone get hurt,” Gancarz said in a statement.

The facility's safety record is hardly exemplary. In the past six months alone, 16 staff have been exposed to radioactivity. An investigation following an explosion in the facility's building last autumn criticized management and staff for failing to follow elaborate work controls and quality-assurance plans.

Last summer, after several accidents at Los Alamos that resulted in one death and an employee being left in a coma, Sig Hecker, the director of Los Alamos, shut down all operations temporarily. Earlier this year, a federal investigation found 32 violations of safety standards during construction work on a nuclear weapons facility there.

Gancarz said he planned to have research reviewed to ensure it complied with safety procedures, and to have personnel properly trained in safety regulations. The $175-million refurbishment will upgrade electrical, ventilation, seismic safety and other systems. Staff will not be laid off during the closure, but will be redeployed in improving safety practices and infrastructure.