The Energy Department has said it is not currently looking into the findings of a recent report in the Seattle Times that leaky respirators used by cleanup workers at the Hanford Site in Washington state might have contributed to serious health problems.
A DOE spokesperson said by email last week that the alleged respirator problems raised in article concern a period between 2012 and 2016, and there is no ongoing review of the matter.
An extensive March 22 article said seizures suffered by a 45-year former employee who worked on demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant for DOE contractor CH2M Plateau Remediation might be linked to retrofitted powered-air purifying respirators worn by crew members on the job.
The article said former employee Bill Evans Jr. suffered his first seizure in May 2016, during his seventh year at Hanford. The newspaper said Evans is one of 560 people who worked on the demolition project between 2020 and late 2016 who wore respirator gear that might have leaked.
Rubber rings, referred to as bumper guards, were placed around the respirator device in order to prevent disposal filter cartridges from becoming loose. But the Seattle Times said the addition of the bumper guards could impair the respirator’s fit, potentially allowing radioactive or chemical contamination to seep into the airflow.
Jacobs subsidiary CH2M said it looked into the issue of the improperly sealed filters on respirators, but found the workers were not exposed to radiation or chemical levels above regulatory limits, the Times reported.
The Plutonium Finishing Plant complex, which operated from roughly 1949 until 1989, made about two-thirds of domestic plutonium during the Cold War. The demolition of the PFP, which has taken about 20 years including planning and deactivation, should be finished this summer, DOE has said.
Evans has been diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy as well as more general seizures. A physician quoted in the article said it is difficult to say if his health problems were actually caused by toxic exposures on the job.
The former Hanford employee receives Social Security disability and has been approved for state workers’ compensation. But the Energy Department, which administers an insurance pool for contractors at the former plutonium production complex, says there is genuine doubt as to whether Evans’ health problems are caused by occupational exposure at Hanford.
