Jacobs subsidiary CH2M appears prepared to resume the higher-risk work involved in demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state, according to an Energy Department report.
“Overall, changes and improvements necessary for safely resuming higher risk demolition work have been effectively established and implemented,” the department’s Office of Enterprise Assessments said this month.
The review was done during April and May, concurrent with a management assessment by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation, which DOE said was carried out effectively.
The plant started operation in 1949 and converted plutonium extracted in a liquid form from irradiated fuel rods at Hanford into a solid form that could then be shipped to U.S. nuclear weapons production facilities.
Demolition of the Plutonium Finishing Plant was halted between December 2017 and September 2018 following an airborne spread of radioactive contamination. CH2M resumed work on lower-hazard demolition and debris cleanup last fall and resumed open-air demolition in April using heavy equipment.
This latest assessment “will be used to confirm [the contractor’s] readiness to restart the remaining higher risk demolition activities,” said the Office of Enterprise Assessments.
Higher-risk demolition tasks will include removal of the main processing facility’s two former processing lines and the packaging and removal of rubble from the demolished Plutonium Reclamation Facility.
Demolition on the higher-risk areas is not scheduled to begin until late August, Randy Bradbury, a spokesman for the Washington state Department of Ecology, said by email Monday.
The contractor started open-air demolition of the four main process buildings at the highly contaminated PFP in November 2016. Radioactive contamination resulting from the demolition occurred in June 2017 and again in December 2017, and dozens of Hanford workers inhaled or ingested small bits of radioactive material at PFP during two separate instances in 2017. Contaminated particles were found on employees’ cars and along a road near the PFP used by workers.
The contractor performed a causal analysis and made fixes, including broadening radiological boundaries and doing more air sampling, to prevent a repeat of the contamination problems.
