Safety Update

NSLS Nanoscience Safety Assessment Feedback

June 6, 2008

Andrew Ackerman
NSLS ESH/Q Manager
ackerman@bnl.gov

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Representatives from the Department of Energy were on site at the end of May to review and critique our procedures for managing the risks presented by experiments that involve nanoscale materials. The team was here to review nanoscience safety across all BNL departments, but since most of this work occurs at the NSLS, the NSLS received much attention.

The assessors were on site for four days. They visited the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, several “small sciences” departments, plant engineering facilities, and the NSLS. They spent several hours at the NSLS reviewing policies for working with nanoscale materials and experiment review documentation and then inspected the beamlines and the set-up laboratory where most of the nanoscale experiments are completed. They were most interested in implementation of controls aimed at minimizing exposures like confining powder work to within the HEPA-filtered hood and assuring that samples at the beamlines are well contained. There remains uncertainty about the potential health effects of nanomaterials and the team agreed with the BNL approach of applying the most conservative requirements to work with free nanoscale particulate, but still assuring respect for work with solutions and nanoscale structures adhered to substrates.

Other issues reviewed included waste handling, material shipment, and medical surveillance for personnel working with nanoscale materials. The NSLS ESH&Q group was able to show the review team how each of these issues is handled. There was much discussion and requirements will likely change as more is learned about nanoscale material risks, but it was clear that the NSLS and the other BNL departments reviewed were taking conservative precautions that are thoughtful and well implemented.

BNL was the first laboratory to be visited as part of an assessment that will include nine other DOE laboratories before a final report is issued. That report will likely be available sometime in August and will help everyone involved improve the programs to support nanoscale science. At the review’s close-out meeting, the reviewers had many favorable comments and were impressed that BNL is proactive in analyzing and managing the potential concerns presented by working with nanoscale materials. The assessment went very well.