A new glove for glovebox workers
Lead-lined gloves used during the processing of nuclear materials within gloveboxes is an example of a barrier. To help prevent work contamination, current practice includes visual inspection and radiological monitoring of each glove on a regular basis. One administrative control requires radiological workers to monitor their hands upon removal form the glovebox gloves. In reality, either a catastrophic glove failure or the formation of pinholes can cause contamination which is detected after the fact. Real-time monitoring of glove integrity during use would help prevent the spread of contamination, minimize decontamination costs, and protect the glovebox worker. Another benefit of real-time monitoring is remotely alerting proper personnel of a glovebox glove breech. One of the most exciting aspects of this technology is the rapid detection of a breech in the glovebox glove. A puncture to a glove can be detected followed by an alert to a worker in less than a second. The benefits of a real-time monitoring system for glove integrity are immense. Examples of benefits using this new glove are: reducing work stoppage, personnel contamination, glovebox glove replacements, and the filing of costly reports. The primary application of this technology at Los Alamos National Laboratory would be protecting the worker with these newly designed lead-lined gloves.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 378801
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR--96-2366; CONF-9607134--12; ON: DE96013966
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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