LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY DOE M441.1-1 IMPLEMENTATION

Loss of containment of nuclear material stored in containers such as food-pack cans, paint cans, or taped slip lid cans has generated concern about packaging requirements for interim storage of nuclear materials in working facilities such as the plutonium facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Department of Energy (DOE) issued DOE M 441.1-1, Nuclear Materials Packaging Manual on March 7, 2008 in response to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 2005-1. The Manual directs DOE facilities to follow detailed packaging requirements to protect workers from exposure to nuclear materials stored outside of approved engineered-contamination barriers. Los Alamos National Laboratory has identified the activities that will be performed to bring LANL into compliance with DOE M 441.1-1. These include design, qualification and procurement of new containers, repackaging based on a risk-ranking methodology, surveillance and maintenance of containers, and database requirements. The primary purpose is to replace the out-dated nuclear material storage containers with more robust containers that meet present day safety and quality standards. The repackaging campaign is supported by an integrated risk reduction methodology to prioritize the limited resources to the highest risk containers. This methodology is systematically revised and updated based on the collection of package integrity data. A set of seven nested packages with built-in filters have been designed. These range in size from 1 qt. to 10 gallon. Progress of the testing to meet Manual requirements will be given. Due to the number of packages at LANL, repackaging to achieve full compliance will take five to seven years.