NATIONAL LABS
Federal safety board raises concerns about glove box fire at Los Alamos plutonium facility
The June incident was the fourth 鈥榩reventable鈥� fire at the lab since 2023
A fire broke out inside a glove box at Los Alamos National Laboratory鈥檚 plutonium production facility in June, 鈥� the fourth such incident since 2023 that a federal safety board has called 鈥減reventable.鈥�
The incident happened as personnel were conducting nonnuclear tests in a furnace, the said.
In some cases, LANL technicians handle plutonium, the highly radioactive element used for nuclear weapons, through glove boxes.
鈥淕love boxes are located inside secure rooms, inside a secure building, on a secure road in the middle of a secured Laboratory campus,鈥� LANL鈥檚 website says.
But the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a federal agency tasked with overseeing nuclear weapons safety, says a 鈥減attern鈥� has emerged with fires inside LANL鈥檚 glove boxes.
The agency listed incidents in 2023, 2025 and this year. The board further said that the activity being performed inside the glove box did not receive the proper fire hazard evaluation by a fire protection subject matter expert.
The board said most glove boxes at the PF-4 facility 鈥� where LANL manufactures plutonium pits, the radioactive triggers of nuclear weapons 鈥� 鈥渄o not have automatic fire suppression installed as specified by (Department of Energy) standards and applicable consensus codes.鈥�
鈥淪pecifically, the (fire hazard evaluation) was not performed on scope changes that introduced additional unreviewed fire hazards for three of the four incidents, including the most recent fire, contributing to the severity of fire events,鈥� the board said.
Steven Anton, a spokesperson for LANL, said in an email Friday that no one was injured.
鈥淭he fire was out quickly, there was no breach of the glove box, and the operation contained no special nuclear material,鈥� Anton said. 鈥淲e have robust safety programs and systems in place in PF-4 鈥� including with glove boxes 鈥� to ensure multiple and redundant layers of protection for our workers, the environment, and the public.鈥�
Michael Ketterer, a professor emeritus of chemistry and biochemistry at Northern Arizona University who has worked with glove boxes and small amounts of plutonium, said incidents like this have occurred at Rocky Flats near Denver, a plant where the U.S. produced plutonium for much of the Cold War and which closed in 1989 following a raid by the FBI and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
鈥淭hese kinds of things did happen in Rocky Flats 鈥� there were several major notable fires,鈥� he said.
At LANL, there are plans to make up to 80 plutonium pits annually by 2030 in a mission to modernize the nation鈥檚 nuclear arsenal. But increasing production poses risks, Ketterer said.
鈥淲e can think that we鈥檙e smarter as a species about our engineering practices and so on, but we鈥檙e not any brighter about making human mistakes and being fallible,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou build this, you make a pit factory there, you make 20, 30, 50 pits a year, you鈥檙e going to have a lot of release of aerosol right into the air, right into the town.鈥�
Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, a LANL watchdog, said sometimes gloves themselves get small punctures, adding that 鈥渋t鈥檚 important that there be fire-suppressant systems鈥� in glove boxes.
鈥淭he DOE and NNSA are severely restricting the safety board鈥檚 access,鈥� Coghlan said, referring to the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
The safety board said as much in its July 10 letter to Congress, saying that it has 鈥渆xperienced increasing access challenges, the most significant in its history, including verbal and written denials from DOE and a lack of responsiveness to access requested before and after the previous reporting period.鈥�
鈥淏ecause of these access challenges, the Board has been unable to conduct some safety reviews,鈥� the board said.
The Los Alamos Fire Department responded to the June fire. Anton, the LANL spokesperson, said the lab doesn鈥檛 鈥渃ompromise on safety to meet our mission goals, nor would we ever need to.鈥�
鈥淪afety lapses threaten to slow down or, potentially, shut down operations at the plutonium facility,鈥� Anton said.
Justin Horwath covers tech and energy for the Journal. You can reach him at jhorwath@abqjournal.com.
