LANL Pulls Back Curtain On PF-4 Facility During Media Tour

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on July 20, 2023
- 4:05 pm

Members of the press try out training glove boxes during a tour for media June 22 of LANL’s PF-4 facility. The mock glove boxes are in the laboratory’s New Employee Training Academy, located across from East Park. Courtesy/LANL

Deputy Laboratory Director for Weapons Bob Webster takes part in the tour. Courtesy/LANL

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

Although typically bustling with activity, it was so quiet at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) PF-4 facility during a June 22 media tour, one could almost hear a pin drop. The group donned yellow and red lab coats, safety glasses and booties to make their way through rooms that appeared immaculate, silent and a little eerie.

But despite the weirdness, what happens at PF-4 is no laughing matter. Significant work that carries large scale impacts is done inside those rooms. As LANL Deputy Laboratory Director for Weapons Bob Webster said, when it comes to the discussion of handling radiation, context is required.

“There’s a lot of challenges that we see out there,” he said.

A major focus is ensuring the safety of PF-4 workers and the public, Webster said.

According to a LANL press release, PF-4 is regarded as “one of the safest places in the country because of the redundant safety and security measures that protect our workforce, the environment and the community.”

Webster pointed out that a lot has changed since Rocky Flats, the former nuclear weapons production facility near Denver. There is a different awareness today, he explained.

For instance, according to the LANL press release, Rocky Flats rapidly produced pits; in contrast, what was produced in a week at Rocky Flats may be made in a year at LANL. This is due to “the stringent processes and layers of safety procedures in PF-4.”

However, Webster said there are challenges – mainly three – that he would associate with modern pit production:

Identifying threats such as seismic occurrences;
Raising money for operations and maintenance; and
Changes to technology.
To prepare the workers for PF-4, there is extensive training, evaluation, certification and orientation. The tour included a walk through of the New Employee Training Academy, located across from East Park. Tour attendees viewed classrooms where onboarding and new employee orientation is held, study areas, a warehouse installation to practice forklift operations and a mock PF-4 room to train employees in everything from entering and leaving a room to operating a glove box.

When the tour group entered the actual facility, they were given a glimpse of the real work that takes place there.

“Pit production” could conjure up a variety of images but a LANL press release offers this description of the pits that PF-4 is concerned with: “an important component in U.S. nuclear weapons is the ‘pit’, which contains plutonium.” The press release further states that while LANL manufactures pits, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory designs the pits, Kansas City National Security Campus manufactures the non-plutonium components. These components are given to LANL for assembly. But while pits are being manufactured at LANL, the laboratory is also decontaminating and removing old equipment.

The technology to do this work is changing and evolving. Pit Technologies Division Leader Matt Johnson commented that new equipment is being installed to make the process more streamlined. Still, even existing systems have significant impacts for production and safety – for instance, material is moved from gloveboxes via trolleys and travels through the building in tunnels, also, ventilation is manipulated throughout the building; it is highest in the hallways, lower in the rooms and lower still in the glove boxes so if a problem occurs, air can flow in, not out. Additionally, monitors check the pressure in and out of the glove boxes. Various devices are utilized to check for signs of contamination; hands and feet are checked with mobile devices and before leaving the building, workers wedge themselves into booths to receive front and back full body scans. Despite changing technology, pit manufacturing is still “very physical work,” Johnson said.

Webster added that the facility utilizes industry standards.

“All of this is fairly standard industry stuff,” he said. “If you are in the industry, it’s not that different.”

Just like any industry; things do evolve as Science, Technology and Engineering Program Office Senior Director Stacy McLaughlin pointed out. “As we continue to learn, we re-engineer our systems to meet the new analysis.”

PF-4 is a tightly controlled facility by necessity. And while all the processes, systems and infrastructure play an important role in maintaining the facility, credit was given to the most important component: the people who work there.

“Our workforce is our most important asset,” Johnson said.

Division Leader for Pit Technologies Matt Johnson, left, meets with members of the press during the recent tour. Courtesy/LANL