Nuclear lab fined over worker protections

The Energy Department said Tuesday it had fined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the nation’s two nuclear weapons design centers, $200,000 for deficiencies in its program to protect workers from exposure to toxic beryllium dust.

A consent order issued by the Energy Department’s Office of Health, Safety and Security outlined a series of breakdowns at the lab, including failure to adequately control worker exposure, perform hazard assessments in buildings, measure the amount of beryllium in work areas and effectively train employees who work with the metal.

The violations occurred as recently as February, when “a machinist unknowingly performed machining on a classified beryllium part that resulted in likely exposure,” according to a consent decree issued in October.

Beryllium is a toxic metal used in the triggers of nuclear weapons, which requires precise machining that can create dust inhaled by workers. It has long been a serious occupational health problem in the nation’s nuclear weapons complex.

The fine was disclosed by the watchdog group TriValley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, which said the fine should have been higher given the lab’s “horrendous record of exposing workers to beryllium.”

Marylia Kelley, executive director of the group, said the lab has had a significant number of exposure incidents, including one documented case in which 178 construction workers were exposed before the Energy Department had begun its investigation.

The result of the decades of exposure that has sickened former workers is palpable on the streets of Livermore, she said. “They are walking around with oxygen tanks.”

The lab is under the control of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous agency within the Energy Department. NNSA officials downplayed the violations.

“It is important to point out we decided to exercise enforcement discretion and issue a consent order rather than a notice of violation in recognition of the fact that [the lab] has effectively managed activities with beryllium hazards,” said Damien LaVera, an NNSA spokesman.

The health and safety office said the lab’s problems with beryllium related to the practices of prior management, which was replaced in 2007.

“Safe and secure operations are the laboratory’s top priority,” said lab spokeswoman Lynda Seaver in a statement. “We have a comprehensive program to protect workers from workplace hazards, including beryllium.”

ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com