Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board inspectors at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington spotted a questionable safety practice, and a reluctance to talk about it, at one of the tank farms last month, according to a recent report.
“A resident inspector observed an event investigation meeting after workers in the SX tank farm energized an extension cord that had been cut to take it out of service,” according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) activity report dated Dec. 16 and just recently posted on the board’s website.
“While troubleshooting a problem with providing power to an air sampler, a worker discovered the cut cord,” according to the DNFSB document. “Despite this, work was not paused, and no notifications were made until the worker that discovered the energized wire reported it to their supervisor.”
Furthermore, participants in the work “were resistant to sharing details of the event despite efforts from event investigators to determine what actions contributed to the event and the decision to continue work,” according to DNFSB.
The DNFSB memo goes on to say the situation and resulting hesitancy to share information is similar to a recent event investigation meeting at the Effluent Treatment Facility.
DOE is working with the contractor to determine what happened and prevent reoccurrence, an agency spokesperson said in a Friday email to Exchange Monitor. Also Friday, a Washington River Protection Solutions spokesperson said the contractor is looking at the situation with an eye toward improvement.
While it has no regulatory teeth, the DNFSB was created by congress to provide independent safety analysis and recommendations about Department of Energy defense nuclear sites. In June, the board and DOE worked out details outlining DNFSB’s authority to access to DOE sites, records as well as federal and contractor employees.
Following a lengthy dispute over a DOE order issued during the Donald Trump administration, Congress intervened and DOE ultimately agreed to fully cooperate with board fact-finding at agency sites.
The SX farm, in Hanford’s 200 West Area, has 16 radioactive waste tanks, each with a capacity of 1 million gallons, according to DOE.
