The Department of Energy and its contractor in charge of the Hanford’s Site’s 222-S Laboratory in Washington state have not determined the source of a mysterious odor that prompted workers to take cover Monday, according to a DOE spokesperson.
Around 11 a.m. Pacific Time Monday, workers at the laboratory and its support facilities, were told to take cover “due to a chlorine-like odor inside the 222-S Laboratory,” the DOE spokesperson said in a Wednesday email in response to a prior Exchange Monitor inquiry.
About 200 people were told to take cover, 30 in the actual lab and the rest working surrounding office buildings, the spokesperson said. Employees affected by the order went to pre-arranged areas away from the lab.
The incident was first reported by the Tri-City Herald newspaper.
“No source could be immediately identified by the Hanford Fire Department,” the spokesperson said “We did have our Industrial Hygiene team perform additional monitoring in the lab right after and through the night with no further signs of an odor. At this time there is no odor present and no reason to believe that it will return, or that it represents a hazardous environment.”
The 70,000-square-foot laboratory used to analyze highly-radioactive samples of tank waste is operated by a Navarro Research-led contractor.
