Workers Taped Together Explosive Pieces (Pantex Nuclear Plant)

AP/Yahoo ^ | 1-23-2004 | Matt Kelley

[blam]

Workers Taped Together Explosive Pieces

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Workers at the only U.S. factory for dismantling nuclear weapons risked an explosion this month by taping together broken pieces of high explosive being removed from the plutonium trigger of an old warhead, federal investigators said.

The unorthodox handling of the unstable explosive increased the risk that the technicians would drop it and set off a "violent reaction," the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said Tuesday in a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (news - web sites).

Such a reaction could have "potentially unacceptable consequences," board chairman John T. Conway said in the letter, which raised disquieting questions about safety at the Energy Department's Pantex nuclear weapons plant near Amarillo, Texas.

No one was hurt and nothing exploded.

However, the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the Energy Department's nuclear weapons programs, is investigating, spokesman Bryan Wilkes said Friday.

"Safety remains a priority for us," Wilkes said. "We are working to address the issues in the letter."

Conway's letter did not make clear whether the explosive had been separated at the time from the softball-sized chunk of plutonium that forms the "pit," or trigger, of a thermonuclear warhead. To prevent a thermonuclear blast, the pit would have to have been separated from the larger warhead.

But if the explosive were still connected to the trigger, an explosion could have injured or killed workers, and could have spread plutonium or other radioactive materials around the facility.

The taping and removal of the explosive did not go as planned, and only quick thinking by the technicians prevented them from dropping the explosive, Conway wrote.

Conway said that taping the explosives together was just one of several mistakes made by Pantex officials that risked an explosion. Pantex officials also downplayed the risk, Conway noted, calling the cracks in the explosive and the fact that workers taped it together a "trivial" change in procedures.

Jud Simmons, a spokesman for Pantex plant operator BWX Technologies Inc., did not return telephone messages on Friday.

The problem occurred when workers were dismantling the plutonium "pit" from a nuclear warhead. The pit is the sphere of plutonium metal surrounded by explosives. When those explosives detonate, the plutonium is compressed, causing a nuclear explosion. In a thermonuclear weapon, that explosion sets off an even stronger nuclear blast.

Workers found the explosives around the pit were cracked, making them more unstable and easier to detonate, Conway wrote. Their solution was to tape together the cracked explosives and move them to another location.

In his letter, Conway said problems with that included:

_ Failing to consult the explosives' manufacturer to determine how unstable the cracked explosives might be;

_ Performing an incomplete and inadequate safety review before going ahead;

_ Allowing workers to perform the taping and removal without practicing on a mock-up;

_ Failing to have experts who had developed the procedure watch the taping and removal to try to spot any problems.

Conway's letter does not elaborate on what might have happened if the explosive had detonated.

About 250,000 people live within 50 miles of the Pantex plant.

The Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has an inspector stationed at the Pantex plant and at the nation's other nuclear weapons sites. Weekly reports by that inspector, William White, show several concerns with safety at the plant, including flaws in the software designed to control the movement of nuclear and explosive materials around the site.

White reported in October that Pantex technicians had made a mistake while dismantling a W62 warhead from a Minuteman missile. A drill damaged part of the warhead's nuclear core, prompting officials to evacuate the facility until experts determined that no radiation had leaked, White wrote.

[null and void]

Fixed your typo:

Well... Given the choice of duct tape or dry wall screws WD-40, I'd say that they made the correct decision.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Some older designs (like the B-53 which was in the stockpile until quite recently) did not use IHE.

[null and void]

Odds are the "engineer" who wrote the stupid, supercautious, dangerous delay procedures never took one apart.

Which is *precisely* why I performed every action on every one of the thousand or so process specs I've ever written.

PS Anyone need a process engineer???

[null and void]

I seem to remember that there might still be one we never recovered off of Spain, and maybe another off of Virginia.

Mouth of the Savanna River...

[U S Army EOD]

Do it then write your procedures on how you did it.

[U S Army EOD]

I heard the audio on the crash crew on that one, "What's he doing now, look at that, what the hell, OH SHIT, come on guys, get'em rolling.

[U S Army EOD]

That was the B47 bombing run you are talking about.

[null and void]

Exactly.

Although more typically it was document what the worker bees were actually doing, do it yourself, document any rough spots.

Then try variations to smooth the difficult parts. Figure out how to explain it in words (Grasping the part firmly in the thumbs of the left hand...)

Have the worker bees review the results, and make suggestions and corrections, repeat until the spec is accurate, concise and clear.

Simple!

[Jonah Hex]

"This is what you get for letting rednecks play with antimatter, boss."

[Lazamataz]

I wuz gonna ping you, but there you are. ;^)

[U S Army EOD]

The B53 had so much HE it didn't need to go nuke. I think I know what you are talking about as no HE buy that is getting a little to detailed. All implosion type weapons use HE the old gun type weapons used a propellent.

[Jonah Hex]

There's also one buried deep outside Goldsboro, NC, that happened when I was growing up in eastern NC.

[Lazamataz]

As far as weapons being lost to aircraft accidents, there are weapons in a swamp in the Carolinas.

Not any more. I have them all in my apartment.

For 40 million a piece, I might be willing to part with them.

[Tijeras_Slim]

There was definitely a switch in the types of HE used after some of the early broken arrows where the HE cooked off (in one case a B50 crash, I think 19 firefighters were killed). Of course, feel free to correct me if I'm fulla it. :)

[Jonah Hex]

What, did eBay turn you down again?

:-)

[WestTexasWend]

It was Wackenhutt Security. (I used to report in AMA, too)
Must say, though, that the form they made you sign at the ASARCO copper-smelting plant was almost that serious, and ASARCO security stuck to us like ticks...no doubt making sure us starving reporters didn't make off with any of the silver or gold by-product. :)

[U S Army EOD]

I think the crash you are refering to was in Morroco with a cargo aircraft where there were four involved and I think at least one of them did cook off. This was in the late forties. They had no concept of the spread of contamination and did not set up a hot zone. Vehicles drove through the contamination and spread it everywhere.

Most people don't know that the B50 (aka souped up B29) was our first SAC bomber when SAC was first organized. I am sure a few of them did crash with nukes on board.

[U S Army EOD]

Will you take Iranian money?

[U S Army EOD]

Did you know that Wackenhut is no longer an American owned company?

[U S Army EOD]

Did the provide good security or were they just wackenoff. Local joke.