The Department of Energy on Monday transferred management of the troubled Plutonium Finishing Plant demolition at the Hanford Site in Washington state to Jacobs Engineering Group, the new owner of cleanup contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. (CHPRC). The change came after another spread of radioactive contamination at the plant was identified on Jan. 26, when a radioactive particle was found on a worker’s car.
“DOE expects the new corporate leadership will work diligently to rebuild DOE’s, workers’ and stakeholders’ confidence in their ability to manage the situation and protect employees and the public,” said Doug Shoop, manager of the DOE Richland Operations Office, in a message sent to employees late Monday.
Jacobs completed its $3.27 billion acquisition of CH2M in December.
John Fulton, a former CHPRC president, was at the Plutonium Finishing Plant on Monday after being appointed by Jacobs to lead the recovery project. Fulton retired from the contractor in September 2014 after working at Hanford off and on since 1979. As CHPRC president from 2012 to 2014 he led the effort to prepare the Plutonium Finishing Plant for demolition.
CHPRC President Ty Blackford will continue to manage the company’s other environmental remediation projects at Hanford, Shoop said. These include moving cesium and strontium capsules to dry storage; relocating radioactive sludge from the K West Basin to dry storage; cleanup of the highly radioactive spill beneath the 324 Building; operating groundwater treatment plants; and operating the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility.
The latest concerns at the Plutonium Finishing Plant were triggered by the spread of specks of radioactive contamination following the demolition of most of the plant’s Plutonium Reclamation Facility in mid-December. Analysis of air samples collected from late October through at least December turned up unexpected airborne contamination, some of it well beyond the plant’s boundaries.
Surveys in mid-December found suspected contamination on the exteriors of seven employee vehicles parked at the plant, although Hanford officials later said three of the cars appeared to have naturally occurring radon rather than radioactive specks from demolition.
One worker declined to remove his vehicle from the plant’s parking lot after it was decontaminated, Shoop said. It has been moved several times since then to accommodate recovery activities. A follow-up survey on Jan. 26, conducted as plans were made to return the vehicle to its owner, turned up a speck of contamination, Shoop said. Additional contamination was found on the vehicle on Sunday.
One of the vehicles was a rental no longer under control of the Hanford worker. CHPRC located the vehicle, and a resurvey found no contamination.
The Plutonium Finishing Plant was supposed to be reduced to slab on grade by last September, but that deadline took a back seat to safety. All demolition and work to load out demolition rubble piles has been stopped until DOE determines plans are in place to safely continue work. Work continues to ensure the parts of the plant that remain standing and the rubble piles are stable and to prevent further spread of contamination.
Wash. Health Department Worried About Rad Contamination Situation
The Washington state Department of Health has increasing concerns about the spread of radioactive contamination from the Plutonium Finishing Plant, saying the public could be put at risk if demolition resumes without better controls. Clark Halvorson, assistant secretary at the Health Department, sent a letter to DOE on Tuesday, outlining the concerns and asking for more information.
The Department of Health is not a Hanford regulator, but is responsible for public health in the state. It asked DOE for information about which visitors and nonradiation workers might have been at Hanford in December.
There has been no off-site release of radioactive contaminants from plant demolition that has put the public at risk, including from an earlier spread of contamination in June, Halvorson said. But some workers drove their cars into town and the vehicles were later found to have alpha contamination, he said. “Allowing alpha contamination off site is a serious and uncommon issue that we believe should be preventable through best management practices,” according to Halvorson.
Incidents of airborne contamination linked to the Plutonium Finishing Plant have increased, with the contamination found outside the 200 West Area, where the plant is located, he said. Contamination has been found at the US Ecology commercial disposal site for low-level radioactive waste on leased Hanford land; at the Rattlesnake Barricade secure entrance to Hanford; and near the K East and K West reactors, which are about 300 yards from the Columbia River where the public fishes and boats.
“Once the contamination is allowed into the environment, it will migrate via pathways, water and through other biological vectors,” Halvorson said.
The Energy Department has other projects where the margin of error for the spread of radioactive contaminants is “very slim … because of proximity to residents and agriculture,” including demolition of the 324 Building, which sits over a highly radioactive spill near both the Columbia River and the city of Richland, Halvorson said. Lessons learned from the spread of contamination over the last year should be applied to the 324 Building demolition, he added.
The Health Department is requesting a variety of information from DOE related to work at the Plutonium Finishing Plant, including ambient air data for specific isotopes, plans for disposal of air filters, wind speeds during work time, the radioactive source term remaining at the plant and in its rubble piles, detailed worker bioassay results, and all personnel lapel monitor readings.
In a statement Wednesday, DOE said it “has an established relationship with Washington’s Department of Health and we will continue our coordination with it. We welcome and expect feedback on our operations from Health as we conduct recovery activities at the PFP and other cleanup activities on the Hanford Site.”
