The U.S. Energy Department Office of Inspector General (IG) is urging management at the Hanford Site in Washington state to provide more clarity and standardization in its recordkeeping for employee radiation dose.
Greater use of standard forms and clearer lines of authority would better ensure that accurate employee histories of radiation dosage are kept, according to the IG. In an inspection report, dated Jan. 8, the inspector general said it is not really clear whether Hanford’s Richland Operations Office or Office of River Protection (ORP) has oversight responsibility for the radiological site services program.
There is also inconsistency between federal requirements and site contracts that make it more difficult to ensure radiation dose is being measured and recorded the same way across the board. Also, the use of standard documents for radiation records is not mandated, which makes recordkeeping more difficult, according to the report from Assistant Inspector General Bruce Miller.
Keeping accurate, reliable records on radiation exposure is important in determining federal liability under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, the IG said. As of December 2018, the federal government has paid more than $1.5 billion in compensation on medical claims by Hanford workers.
Without sufficient data on exposure, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health can extend compensation to any claimant who worked at the Hanford Site for at least 250 days and suffers from one of about two dozen cancers, the report says.
There are sometime gaps in the data. About 111 workers employed by Hanford’s AECOM-led waste tank contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), went without a record in the radiation exposure database for up to 3.5 years, the IG said.
Since the mid-1960s, the former plutonium-manufacturing site has maintained records for dosimetry – the science of determining dose – as part of its radiation protection program. Today radiation site services are provided by Leidos-led Mission Support Alliance, the provider of landlord services for the Hanford Site.
The main users of dosimetry are WRPS, which is overseen by ORP, and site cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation, which reports to the Richland Operations Office.
Hanford management “does not agree that there is a lack of clarity in oversight responsibilities between the offices,” nor lack of procedures to resolve disputes, the inspector general report said. Hanford brass, however, is reviewing contracts and procedure manuals for consistency.
