During 1993, facility management of TA-55, the Plutonium Processing and Handling Facility, at Los Alamos National Laboratory reported several events involving pin holes and tears in glovebox gloves, resulting in personnel and protective clothing contamination and loss of control of radioactive material by spread of the contamination. Glovebox activities occurring during these events included inspection; cleaning; solution assay instrument checking; maintenance movement, repair, and removal of items; and cutting and grinding operations. Health physics personnel detected personnel-contamination levels of up to 40,000 dpm per probe area alpha and protective-clothing contamination levels of up to 1,000,000 dpm per probe area alpha. They located contamination on floors, mats, a notebook, a computer keyboard, a telephone, and in other locations. Glove holes ranged in size from pin holes to one-quarter-inch tears. Locations of holes and tears included tips of fingers and a thumb, forearm/wrist area, elbow area, and near the armpit area. For some events, facility personnel associated the hole or holes to the current glovebox activity. For others, the activity was not identified. Personnel testing results indicated no measurable intake of radioactive material occurred during any of the events. (ALO-LA- LANL-TA55-1993-0003, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0005, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0016, ALO-LA-LANL- TA55-1993-0017, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0021, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0023, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55- 1993-0024, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0025, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0026, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993- 0027, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0028, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0030, ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-1993-0031)
These events illustrate the importance of programs for inspections by trained individuals and for timely replacement of glovebox gloves. Appropriate facility personnel may want to review PNL-6534, Health Physics Manual of Good Practices for Plutonium Facilities, for elements of these programs. DOE/EH-0256T, Radiological Control Manual, Section 361, references PNL-6534 for plutonium operations. PNL- 6534 provides technical information and day-to-day guidance for managers, health physicists, and others involved in the handling of plutonium. Section 4.4.1 provides contamination-control recommendations for gloves in gloveboxes. Pages 4.22 and 4.23 include the following statements.
"All gloves in normal use at plutonium processing installations should be inspected prior to each use. All operating personnel shall perform contamination surveys of themselves after every glove use. The glove inspections should be made each time by the same team of trained individuals, and the condition of each glove shall be recorded so that glove failures can be anticipated and preventive measures taken. The development of a statistical basis for establishing the frequency of glove changes shall be considered because it may be cost effective. For example, the change-out frequency could be planned so that gloves are changed at some fraction of the mean time between failures or more preferably some fraction of the minimum time between failures. This type of change-out program could also eliminate personnel doses and potential contamination spread incidents associated with too-frequent glove replacements. This procedure may require that each glove use be categorized. A routine replacement program will not replace an inspection program, but it is a supplement to the inspections- - - -Gloves that are in questionable condition should be changed without delay."