DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD 

July 12, 2013 

MEMORANDUM FOR: Steven Stokes, Acting Technical Director 

FROM: Jonathan Plaue, DNFSB Site Representative 

SUBJECT: LLNL Activity Report for Week Ending July 12, 2013 

Plutonium Facility: In a letter to the laboratory contractor dated July 9, 2013, the Livermore 

Field Office (LFO) provided criteria for evaluating when to consider upgrading wood-enclosed 

housekeeping filters. This letter completes an action taken by LFO in response to a letter from 

the Board dated December 13, 2011. Currently, the contractor does not replace housekeeping 

filters on plutonium-contaminated gloveboxes based on age or a firm level of accumulated 

radioactive material—elevated pressure drop is the only firm replacement criterion. 

Historically, the contractor replaced wood-enclosed filters with like-for-like units. LFO’s letter 

directs the contractor to consider upgrading at a minimum to metal-enclosed filters when a 

glovebox “modification” is otherwise planned. The criteria include: (1) conflicting descriptions 

of the types of modifications to be considered, (2) examples of “more than minor” radiological 

controls, and (3) cost-effectiveness defined as an expected cost of less than 20 percent of the 

modification without upgrading the filter. 

As a planning exercise, LFO and the contractor applied the criteria against the most substantial 

recent modification to a glovebox. The modification involved the installation of new analytical 

chemistry equipment, which required installing modified top plates and feed-through ports on the 

glovebox ceiling. LFO and the contractor determined that this modification would not trigger a 

full evaluation to upgrade the filter based on cost effectiveness. However, in conducting the 

screening, both parties concluded that the level of rigor in practices currently applied for conduct 

of engineering and project management is insufficient to implement the criteria effectively. As a 

result, LFO also requested the contractor provide any document(s) used to implement the 

evaluation process. 

Tritium Facility: On June 28, 2013, the contractor submitted to LFO the annual update of the 

safety basis. As part of the update, the contractor removed the operation of the carbon dioxide 

decontamination equipment and the associated credited controls. LFO completed its review of 

glovebox leak testing data from the previous year (see weekly report dated June 14, 2013) and 

agreed with the contractor’s recommendation to continue use of a method and criterion that are 

less conservative than the applicable national consensus guidance. LFO is scheduled to complete 

their overall review and approval of the annual update by December 20, 2013. 

Programmatic Operations: On Monday, senior contractor program managers briefed LFO on 

the potential need for certain engineering environmental and surety tests to be performed in the 

Superblock in support of upcoming Life Extension Programs. The contractor noted that while 

National Nuclear Security Administration Headquarters has not decided on the need for the tests 

or where to perform them, the capabilities to perform them ought to be maintained in the safety 

bases at LLNL. The LFO Manager emphasized that security considerations and National 

Environmental Policy Act coverage were greater impediments to re-establishing the capabilities 

at LLNL.