DNFSB RAISES QUALITY CONCERNS OVER NUCLEAR-GRADE HEPA FILTERS

摘要

Tests conducted last year on nuclear-grade high efficiency particulate air filters used in nuclear facilities have found significant quality concerns, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Board said late last month. In a March 17 letter to the Department of Energy, Board Chairman A. J. Eggenberger cited two semiannual reports from the Filter Test Facility covering Fiscal Year 2007 that found overall filter rejection rates of 18.9 and 21.5 percent. In contrast, the 10-year historical average rejection rate is 7 percent, Eggenberger wrote. "The increasing contribution of manufacturing defects to the rejection rates is particularly troublesome, and indicates problems in quality control programs and manufacturing processes at the vendor level," he added. Eggenberger told NW&M Monitor last week that the cause of the increased rejection rate was unknown. "We're asking [DOE] to look at that and decide what the cause of these increased rejection rates are because we don't know," he said.