The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) has agreed to ease the respiratory protection required for workers in a second waste storage tank farm at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state.
Jeff McDaniel, elected president of the umbrella group for 15 Hanford labor unions in March, approved the decision. The move indicates McDaniel’s willingness to continue the tank-farm-by-tank-farm evaluation begun by his predecessor, Dave Molnaa, who signed off on eased protections for the AP Tank Farm in March.
Protections are now being eased in the SY Tank Farm, according to a Dec. 7 memo to workers sent jointly by McDaniel and Mark Lindholm, president of Hanford tank farm contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS).
The SY and AP farms are among six at Hanford that contain double-shell waste tanks.
Hanford workers have been wearing supplied air respirators in all tank farms since HAMTC filed a stop-work order in July 2016, leading to an agreement two months later between the labor group and WRPS. They agreed that supplied air respirators would be worn for any entry into a Hanford tank farm as protection against chemical vapors unless air-purifying respirators could be shown to be safe for a specific tank farm.
Cartridges for air-purifying respirators have been tested under extreme conditions, including in the head space of tanks. Chemical vapors are associated with the radioactive waste held in Hanford’s underground tanks. The results were analyzed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and an independent review was conducted by a firm selected by HAMTC, Stoneturn Consultants.
Operations in the SY Tank Farm by workers wearing air-purifying respirators will be limited to certain tasks, possibly some routine monitoring or safety checks. No work that would disturb waste is planned in the tank farm. Disturbing waste increases the chance that chemical vapors could be released.
Workers will retain the option of wearing a supplied air respirator in the SY Tank Farm.
