The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC) and the Hanford Site’s tank farm contractor have signed a memorandum of understanding to lift the stop work order halting any work in the waste storage areas unless workers are using supplied air respirator. The parties signed the agreement, which requires certain conditions be met, on Wednesday. No immediate operational changes are planned, in part because a federal court order temporarily requires the use of supplied air respirators in the tank farms.
HAMTC, an umbrella group of 15 unions representing workers at Hanford, issued the stop work order on July 11, but has allowed work to continue in the tank farms if personnel are using supplied air respirators to protect against chemical vapors associated with the chemical and radioactive waste stored in underground tanks. The order can only be lifted by agreement between HAMTC and the tank farm contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS).
The agreement reached this week following mediation would allow workers to used air-purifying respirators rather than supplied air respirators, which typically require workers to carry heavy air bottles, if the cartridges used for air-purifying respirators can be shown to protect workers. WRPS is testing cartridges now for different chemicals and under different conditions, including some that are more extreme than workers would encounter. For example, some of the cartridges are being tested on tank exhausters. The results of the tests will be analyzed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which could complete its work in October.
HAMTC would then choose a third party to review the cartridge methodology, protocols, and results. If it agrees the air-purifying respirators would protect workers, the stop work order requiring supplied air respirators would be lifted.
The Department of Energy spokesperson said it is encouraged by the conditional lifting of the stop work order and will continue to monitor the efforts to fulfill the conditions of the agreement.
Federal Judge Thomas Rice also would have to agree that supplied air respirators need not be required in the tank farms. The state of Washington, Hanford Challenge, and union Local 598 have sued DOE and WRPS in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington, demanding better protection of Hanford workers from chemical vapors. As workers continued to receive medical evaluations for possible exposure to vapors, the plaintiffs filed a motion in July for a preliminary injunction to protect workers until the lawsuit is decided.
Rice ordered all work within tank farms be conducted using supplied air respirators, among other safeguards, until he rules on the preliminary injunction motion. A hearing is set for Oct. 12. DOE had suggested the temporary requirement for supplied air respirators to the judge until the preliminary injunction ruling.
