Hanford Site tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) has cut back on work to prepare the A and AX tank farms for waste retrieval following the mandate that more work be conducted on supplied air respirators. The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) on July 11 issued a stop work order inside all Hanford waste storage tank farms unless workers are wearing supplied air respirators to better protect them from chemical vapors.
However, WRPS lacks enough of the equipment, including lighter air bottles, to continue all work that was underway at the start of the summer. Some work in double-shell tank farms was being done without requiring supplied air respirators.
The changes to work requirements also have increased the cost of essential operations, requiring funds to be shifted to higher-priority work, WRPS said in a statement Thursday.
The company has prioritized some operations since the stop work order was issued, both to ensure that it has enough safety equipment available and to ensure it has enough funding to complete activities essential for safety, security, and environmental requirements. It is placing the highest priority on continuing waste retrieval from single-shell tanks in the C Tank Farm, emptying waste from a double-shell tank with an interior leak, and conducting work on exhausters in the AP Tank Farm. It placed a lower priority on work to construct and prepare infrastructure at the A and AX tank farms for waste retrieval from single-shell tanks after work wraps up at the C Tank Farm.
Not all work has been stopped at the A and AX tank farms, but enough has been halted that about 65 construction workers who were employed by subcontractors are out of work. All are members of building trades unions, which are not among the 15 unions under the HAMTC umbrella. WRPS said it has notified subcontractors of work plans so they can manage their workforces.
WRPS is purchasing more equipment, including 30-minute bottles to use with the supplied air respirators. HAMTC demanded the switch from 60-minute bottles to the lighter 30-minute bottles in June, and WRPS is complying with that demand. WRPS also is taking steps to expand the support services needed for work on supplied air respirators. The supplied air respirators must be surveyed for radioactive contamination after each use and then are trucked to the Hanford Fire Department. There, a subcontractor is responsible for inspecting them for damage, sanitizing them, and then refilling bottles using an air compressor. The equipment is then trucked to a central Hanford building where workers check out the equipment for use.
WRPS procedures and work packages are being updated to reflect new requirements for supplied air respirators. Workers also must become certified to use the equipment. Certification requires passing a medical evaluation, being fitted to wear a respirator mask, and undergoing training. No estimate on when more equipment will be ready to use and whether deferred work can then be resumed has been made public. WRPS told its employees is working to minimize additional impacts to environmental cleanup work. “Washington River Protection Solutions’ number one priority is making sure its workers, its public and the environment stay safe,” the company said in a statement early this week.
The Central Washington Building Trades Council, a coalition of construction-related labor organizations, did not respond to a request for comment.
