For the second time in two months, the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site has dealt with a truck fire, according to a recently-published staff report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
A truck that workers used to move soil into a radiological buffer area in the West section of Hanford caught fire “and was quickly extinguished by the Hanford Fire Department,” according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) staff report dated Nov. 12.
The truck fire occurred Nov. 6, a DOE spokesperson said Monday by email. The investigation by Amentum-led contractor Central Plateau Clean Co. is now complete, the spokesperson said. The incident occurred roughly a month after an early October truck fire in the East area of the Hanford Site.
“Attendees noted that the truck’s wiring or battery was the source of the fire,” according to the DNFSB report. The battery had been recently replaced, though no issues with the new battery were identified prior to the fire.
Staff at the Hanford Site said the vehicle involved in the November fire was stored for about a year prior to being used and “the contractor does not have special provisions for long-term storage of vehicles,” to the DNFSB report. Instead it relies upon Department of Transportation inspections prior to usage to identify potential problems.
