The tank farm contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site has launched a web page with data on chemical vapor monitoring as part of a push to make more information readily available to workers and the public, said officials with Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) on Monday. Better communication on vapors from waste in Hanford’s underground tanks was one of the recommendations made by an independent panel led by the Savannah River National Laboratory. WRPS is in its 16th month of implementing the recommendations.
“This page is intended to be a landing spot for critical sampling data to facilitate discussion and help alleviate concerns tied to chemicals we encounter while conducting the important work we do at Hanford’s tank farm,” said WRPS President Mark Lindholm in a message on the page.
The site initially features monitoring data collected after what WRPS called “odors-related events” at the tank farms from April 28 to May 10. The data shows no monitoring data with chemical levels that exceed half the occupational exposure limit for chemicals, such as volatile organic compounds. WRPS sets what it calls an “action level” at half of the occupational exposure limit.
This spring, about 50 Hanford workers have received medical evaluations. They include workers who smelled a suspicious odor, those with symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath, and workers in the vicinity of the tanks. When at least two workers smell a suspicious odor or one worker has symptoms, employees leave the area, access is restricted, workers may receive medical evaluations, and air samples are collected and analyzed.
Workers are allowed back into the area if samples show vapors below the action level. The samples are taken after possible vapor events, which the independent panel review said may be caused by release of vapors that are brief but that might have relatively high concentrations of chemicals.
The web page, at wrpstoc.com/tank-farm-ih/, will be updated and expanded over the next weeks and months, Lindholm said in a message to employees.
