| Situation Update No. 2 Ref.no.: ED-20160419-52982-USA
Situation Update No. 2
On 2016-04-29 at 08:17:24 [UTC]
Event: Environment Pollution
Location: Hanford Nuclear Reservation State of Washington USA
Number of Deads: 0 person(s)
Number of Injured: 0 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 0 person(s)
Number of Infected: 0 person(s)
Situation: Work to empty a Hanford tank with an interior leak has been stopped after several workers reported suspicious odors that may have been from chemical vapors on Thursday. A total of 12 workers were taken for on-site medical evaluations, according to information available Thursday evening. The first two workers had been wearing respirators with supplied oxygen because they were in an area designated as a vapor control zone. Work was being done that could increase the risk of chemical vapors in the air. After leaving the vapor control zone early Thursday afternoon, they took off their respirators and smelled odors. They also reported having headaches. Work was underway Thursday to remove waste from double-shell tank AY-102, which is leaking waste from its interior shell into the space between its shells. The waste was being transferred to a nearby group of tanks, the AP Tank Farm, to be stored in a sturdier double-shell tank. The workers who smelled the odors were in the AP Tank Farm. They were sent to the Hanford on-site medical provider for evaluations and had been released by the end of the day. Six other workers who were in the AP Tank Farm when the odors were detected also left the farm, as is Hanford policy, according to a statement from the Department of Energy. Shortly after that, two additional workers who were walking the line that transfers the waste to the AP Tank Farm to monitor it smelled an odor, according to a memo sent to Washington River Protection Solutions workers. The workers, both industrial hygienists, were outside the AP Tank Farm. By mid-afternoon at least one other worker outside a nearby tank farm smelled an odor. Those additional workers, plus several others in the area, went to the on-site medical provider for evaluations. One had been in a vehicle driving through the area. The results of 10 of the evaluations were not available yet Thursday evening. Concerns have been raised that workers exposed to chemical vapors could develop serious, long-term medical issues. Washington River Protection Solutions has required supplied-air respirators for much of the work in the tank farms while it implements recommendations from an independent report to better protect workers. A multi-year plan was announced in February 2015 to address the 47 recommendations in the report. The plan calls for expanded data collection, new research studies and new technologies. |  |
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