Void limits for radiological work permits for the ongoing remediation of the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) were breached on two occasions in early August, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site representative report released this week. One case involved damage to ductwork that led to a radiation release, and the other during cleaning of the canyon floor of the PFP’s Plutonium Reclamation Facility, the Aug. 7 DNFSb report says. CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation, the company leading the remediation and ultimate demolition of the PFP, is taking steps to prevent future incidents. “The site reps note that, over the last two months, there has been an increase in the number of radiological events and work related injuries. These increases coincide with the increasing trend in the complexity and quantity of work being accomplished. While the contractor is taking appropriate action for each case, these actions do not appear to be curtailing the overall trend,” the report states.
“Final cleanup and characterization activities” began in July at the Plutonium Reclamation Facility canyon, according to a July 31 DNFSB report. The report did not address details of this operation at the site, which before its shutdown was used to extract plutonium from waste material so that it could be used in the PFP’s conversion of plutonium into a solid form usable in nuclear weapons. CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation has said it plans to demolish the PFP by fiscal 2016 as part of the larger cleanup of the Hanford Site.
Two workers involved in the Plutonium Reclamation Facility project sustained radiation contamination on their skin while changing out of protective outfits, the DNFSB report states. “Both skin contamination events appear to have resulted from cross contamination that occurred during doffing of the suits. In both cases, the individuals were subsequently decontaminated to less than detectable levels of decontamination,” according to the report. The DNFSB site representatives also reported two cases in which protected suits were compromised, but the workers did not experience radiation contamination.