Independent Assessment of the Fire Protection Program at the Argonne National Laboratory – June 2025

July 2025

Independent Assessment of the Fire Protection Program at the Argonne National Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) conducted an independent assessment of the fire protection program (FPP) at the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in November and December 2024. This assessment focused on Building 331 – Radioactive Waste Storage Facility (RWSF) and Building 212 – Alpha Gamma Hot Cell Facility (AGHCF), which are hazard category 2 and 3 nuclear facilities, respectively. UChicago Argonne, LLC (Argonne) is the prime contractor at ANL for the DOE Office of Science and is overseen by the Argonne Site Office (ASO). This assessment evaluated the effectiveness of Argonne’s FPP, including policies, procedures, and fire and related safety hazards analyses; fire hazards analysis and safety design basis documentation integration; fire prevention and protection design requirements; surveillances and inspection, testing, and maintenance (ITM); and contractor self-assessment. Federal oversight by ASO relating to fire protection was also evaluated.