The interlocking mechanism on a freight elevator door at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s main plutonium facility is faulty, according to a weekly report from the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board.

The building, known as PF-4, was built in the 1970s and is an example of aging infrastructure throughout the nation’s nuclear complex, according to the safety board.

The elevator’s problems are common to elderly commercial freight elevators: “sensors stop functioning, doors jam, etc.,” Kyle Johnson, chief of staff for the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board, wrote in an email to The New Mexican. “There is nothing specialized about this elevator due to its presence in a nuclear facility."

Johnson wrote operations at PF-4 should be able to continue using alternatives. Although the elevator transports radiological material, Johnson wrote, it’s not critical for nuclear safety, and there is no deadline for a fix.

The safety board and facility staff understand alternatives to the freight elevator entail some safety implications, Johnson wrote. He said improving the elevator operations is a high priority for Triad National Security, the consortium that manages Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Triad has already created a special team “to resolve these issues as soon as possible,” he wrote.

The team is working on immediate fixes, and a refurbishment project is planned for later this year, lab spokesperson Steven Horak wrote in an email.

The elevator has been malfunctioning repeatedly over the past few months, according to the board. Lab staff, Johnson wrote, have already tried several fixes and upgrades to keep the elevator running in good shape.

Last year, the safety board held a public hearing on aging infrastructure around the nation. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has expressed concern about aging facilities at national laboratories around the country.