One person sent to hospital after accident at LANL

Nearly a dozen electrical incidents occurred at laboratory between 2003-15

A main electrical line was accidentally cut in a building at Los Alamos National Laboratory, sending one person to the hospital for examination, shutting down power for several hours and pausing work for some electrical employees from Friday through Monday, according to sources familiar with the incident.

Kevin Roark, a lab spokesman, said there was “No shock event, no one injured, no medical attention needed” as a result of the incident. But people who spoke to The New Mexican on condition of anonymity said the accident Thursday resulted in an electrical shock that sent one worker to the Los Alamos Medical Center.

Roark later said the worker was evaluated by Los Alamos Medical Center but reiterated “no medical attention needed.”

The medical center said it does not comment on patient records, citing a privacy law.

When asked if work had stopped at the lab as a result of the incident, Roark said: “Lab electrical work has resumed. Some subcontractor electrical work is still paused.”

He did not answer questions on why subcontracted workers were not back to work.

The episode is the latest in a series of safety incidents that have occurred at the lab in recent months, including a fire in its plutonium facility in April that sent one worker to the hospital with second-degree burns. The lab also has a history of electrical incidents. At least 11 occurred between 2003 and 2015, according to previous reporting by The New Mexican, many causing injury to workers.

The most serious on record happened on May 3, 2015, when an electric arc flash occurred at the Neutron Science Center at Technical Area 53, injuring nine workers. Julian Trujillo, who was hurt the most severely, had a head injury and burns on more than 30 percent of his body.

Trujillo had intended to clean a switch gear with spray cleaner. But the cleaning product caused a reaction on equipment that should have been turned off, according to an incident report.

Early in 2015, another worker burned his hands after receiving an electrical shock while working at TA-55, causing work there to stop for two days.

The incident on Thursday occurred at Technical Area 35, where nuclear safeguards and development of lasers, physics and fusion materials, electrical energy and other science missions occur, according to the Los Alamos Study Group.

A person who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the recent accident occurred about 4 p.m. after a worker, contracted by Pueblo Electric, cut a main power line in building 87 of TA-35.

Greg Isaacs, president of Pueblo Electric, a Los Alamos-based company that contracts with the lab, said when contacted by a reporter: “There was nobody injured. There was nobody shocked.”

He declined to comment further, except to say, “I am not sure I am allowed to even talk under the LANL contract.”

The Los Alamos Police Department said it did not respond to the incident, but the fire department did.

Barb Ricci, a records custodian for Los Alamos County, said she could not provide incident reports immediately, even though the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act states that available records must be turned over immediately, or “as soon as is practicable under the circumstances.” She said lab policy dictates all requested records first be reviewed by the lab, which is at least a three-day process.

Greg Wolf, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said he was still looking into The New Mexican’s question about what action the federal agency was taking and when it was informed about the incident.