"Everybody at LANSCE is looking forward to running the Lujan Center, welcoming back our civilian and defense users and getting outstanding science done," said LANSCE Division Director Roger Pynn.
"Three of the Center's flight paths opened on July 11 and 12, directing neutrons to specific spectrometers," said Earl Hoffman, LANSCE Deputy Director for Operations. "The remaining spectrometers are still undergoing technical upgrades or modifications and will become operational as soon as they pass detailed inspections."
Scientists use neutrons to study the origins of matter and to probe nuclear, atomic and subatomic structures. Researchers in several disciplines in the civilian and defense sectors have used the facility extensively since it first produced neutrons in 1986. For example, researchers use neutrons to analyze the effects of aging on high explosives, characterize the crystal structure of proteins, and understand how various materials deform at different levels of stress.
"There's a misperception that all of LANSCE has been in stand-down mode since last February, but that simply isn't true," said Pynn. "In fact, we operated our accelerator for more hours last year than in any of the previous 20 years," said Pynn.
Pynn placed all facilities and operations at LANSCE into a stand-down in February 1999 following a series of safety incidents, none of which resulted in injuries. Senior LANSCE Division management developed a formal activity restart plan, and Pynn completely lifted the stand-down in June 1999. However, the Lujan Center only recently received approval from DOE to restart operations.
"Our 'license' to operate the Lujan Center expired March 1999, and as we were in the process of renewing it, DOE made safety rules much more rigorous," Pynn said. "DOE was absolutely right to do so. The changes forced us to perform more in-depth safety analyses that gave us a much better understanding of how the Lujan Center should operate."
The license renewal process began about the same time as the stand-down announcement. The resulting restart safety plan and DOE's more stringent requirements led to the development of 35 new safety procedures for Lujan.
"We received invaluable assistance from DOE safety mentors, who helped us fully understand what it takes to safely operate a nuclear facility when it's linked to an accelerator facility," Pynn said.
Pynn acknowledged the steps leading to the restart at the Lujan center weren't easy, noting that concerns about low-level legacy mercury contamination earlier this year at the Lujan Center further delayed its restart. However, he said the process led to an enormous number of safety improvements to the Lujan center and to LANSCE overall.
Recent studies show dramatic improvements at LANSCE in the number of reported incidents and lost workday cases for this year compared to last year. The overall average for lost workday cases for 1999 was 6 per month; for this year so far, the average stands at 1.83. For total reported incidents, the overall average last year was 12.25 per month. For this year, the monthly average is 5.67.
"For a nuclear facility that had to undergo a safety stand-down 18 months ago, I think that's tremendous progress," said Pynn.
"The restart is welcome news for both Los Alamos personnel and researchers worldwide, who patiently have waited for the facility to re-open. We're certainly grateful for their patience," he said.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.