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Labeling mix-up causes spill at Los Alamos National Laboratory Feb 19, 2026 By Alaina Mencinger amencinger@sfnewmexican.com A recent federal report details two safety incidents at Los Alamos National Laboratory late last month, including one where a plutonium facility worker experienced respiratory symptoms after an unexpected chemical reaction. That same week, workers cut the wrong utility line while preparing to make glove box upgrades, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report for the week ending Jan. 30. In the Jan. 26 incident at PF-4, workers were loading a reactive reagent — that is, a material intended to kick off or facilitate a chemical reaction — into an aqueous nitrate process. But the reagent had two labels: one, a printed label with one chemical name, the other a label handwritten in marker with the name of another chemical. The workers assumed the marker label, listing the contents as hydroxylamine nitrate, was the correct one. But the reagent was actually the chemical listed on the printed label — nitric acid, an “incompatible” substance that can cause heat and hazardous gas when used as it was on Jan. 26. The mixture overpressurized and caused a spill which, according to the safety board report, was cleaned up by hazardous material personnel. “Management plans to review labeling practices and perform an extent-of-condition review on stored chemicals,” the report states. Two days earlier, another incident in PF-4 was documented when workers accidentally cut the wrong line when trying to remove utility lines to allow for glove box upgrades. The cut cooling water line spilled around 8 gallons of water into a laboratory room before the crew sent someone to stop the water flow. The spill was not radioactive, according to a spokesperson for Los Alamos National Laboratory. A few days later, radiological control workers found plutonium contamination under a glove box where the spill happened. A spokesperson for the lab said the contamination did not come from the cut utility line. “The contamination mentioned in the DNFSB weekly report resulted from operations prior to the incorrect line being cut, and the room was decontaminated before the water spill occurred,” spokesperson Nicholas Njegomir wrote in an email to The New Mexican. “As is always the case when inadvertent errors occur, the team is learning from the incident and corrective actions are being implemented, including reviewing proper oversight procedures and ensuring lines are clearly marked,” Njegomir wrote. No workers were injured or contaminated by the spill and facility operations were not impacted, Njegomir wrote. Published comments by Greg Mello:
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