Elevator in New Mexico Plutonium Facility Needs Repairs

The freight elevator at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s main plutonium facility in New Mexico has a faulty interlocking mechanism on its door and is need of repairs, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. Built in the 1970s, the building is an example of U.S. nuclear complexes’ aging infrastructure. Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board Chief of Staff Kyle Johnson said the freight elevator’s problems are typical of vintage freight elevators: “sensors stop functioning, door jambs (occur), etc.,” Johnson said. The faulty Los Alamos freight elevator is not critical for nuclear safety, and therefore poses no risk even though it transports radiological material, he said. Even so, repairing the elevator  is “a high priority,” according to Johnson, and Triad National Security — the consortium that manages Los Alamos — has assembled a special team to “resolve these issues as soon as possible.”