Another possible chemical vapor incident was reported Tuesday at the Hanford Site in Washington state for the first time in five days. This one was different because it was reported about 7 miles away from where previous reports were made. Previous potential exposures in recent weeks were in or near the group of tank farms in the southeast corner of the Hanford 200 East Area, which includes the AN, AP, AX, and A Tank Farms.
On Tuesday, employees inspecting generators outside the TX Tank Farm in the 200 West Area reported a suspicious odor. A Washington River Protection Solutions spokesman was unaware of any work with waste being done in the 200 West Area on Tuesday. Most work with waste, which can increase the chance of chemical vapors being released, is being done in the 200 East Area. Since late April, 47 people in the 200 East Area have received medical evaluations. The workers who smelled the odor on Tuesday declined a medical evaluation. However, another worker nearby reported symptoms and was taken to the on-site medical provider. Although the symptoms were not made public, they typically include coughing, dizziness, and shortness of breath.
There had been no additional reports of possible chemical vapors on Wednesday as of late afternoon.
The Department of Energy said access to the TX Tank Farm and nearby areas has been restricted as air samples are gathered and analyzed. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released a statement Tuesday, saying that after meeting with some Hanford workers last week he is convinced that the problem of chemical vapors at Hanford is increasingly serious and not adequately addressed. “These workers are people working hard to support their families and it’s not enough just to be working to increase monitoring of chemical vapors down the road,” the lawmaker said. “DOE needs to be working immediately on a plan to protect workers who are in the tank farms today.”
No Appeals of New Hanford Consent Decree Schedule
The midnight Tuesday deadline for appealing the new consent decree deadlines for Hanford Site waste cleanup overseen by the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection has passed with neither the states of Washington and Oregon nor DOE filing an appeal.
The 2010 court-enforced consent decree covers construction, commissioning, and operations of the Waste Treatment Plant, which will process up to 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste left by decades of plutonium production at the complex.
The consent decree was amended in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington earlier this year after it became clear that most of the document’s remaining deadlines would not be met. Under the revised consent decree, DOE must start treating low-activity waste at the Waste Treatment Plant by 2023 and have all parts of the plant operating together by 2036.
Washington state officials praised the revisions to the consent decree when the new milestones were issued in March. DOE said only that it remained committed to treating Hanford tank waste as soon as practicable when the ruling was issued, but in later court filings asked for some additional information in case it appealed. DOE did not succeed in convincing Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson that she should allow near-automatic extensions of the new deadlines if it continues to encounter technical or other issues in building the Waste Treatment Plant.
The judge also declined to require DOE to start building double-shell tanks immediately, which Washington state had requested. However, if a 2020 tank waste retrieval deadline is not met, the judge said she would consider requiring new double-shell tanks. DOE is required to empty to regulatory standards at least five single-shell tanks of its choosing from among a group of 12 by 2020, which would require adequate double-shell space.
Hanford Contractor Plans Final Layoffs
Washington Closure Hanford has notified Washington state that it will lay off its last 435 employees starting July 1. The notification was required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act as Washington Closure nears the end of its contract in September. Washington Closure has been cleaning up the Hanford River Corridor under a closure contract, which means most work should be completed and the contract will not be recompeted. Washington Closure created what it called “The People Plan” in 2011 to guide staffing levels and layoffs when more than half of its contracted work had been completed. In October 2011 managers met with each employee to discuss individuals’ anticipated last date of employment in the coming years. Washington Closure’s contract was subsequently extended from its original 10 years for an additional year through September 2016.
Washington Closure had about 925 regular employees – or about 1,200 if staff augmentation and corporate employees are included in the total – when it started to ramp down employment. To date 387 nonunion employees have exited the company. Of those, about 300 wanted to find another job; Washington Closure helped place 95 percent of them. Many found work at other Hanford contractors or in other locations working for Washington Closure parent companies AECOM, CH2M, and Bechtel. The layoffs also affected Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council workers, who were eligible to claim the jobs of union workers with less seniority at other Hanford contractors.
Washington Closure said that about 200 of its remaining 435 employees are expected to move to other Hanford contractors. The majority will transfer to CH2M Plateau Remediation Co., which will take over Washington Closure projects including management of the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility and remediation of the 618-10 Burial Ground and the 324 Building. The remaining employees will include about 140 nonunion workers who could continue to work through the end of September, with some of them expected to work longer to close out the contract.
