Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
4/04/2014
After reentering the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground for the first time since February’s incidents and establishing a clean base of operations this week, the Department of Energy is planning to send workers deeper into the mine next week. The manned reentries are the first to take place since the Feb. 14 radiation release in the WIPP underground, and are aimed at identifying the source of the contamination. Two eight-person teams entered the mine on April 2, in efforts that DOE said “were a critical first step toward future entries that will expand the clean base of operations and allow workers to travel farther into the mine to identify the suspected source of the radiological release.” This week DOE did not respond to an interview request on the recovery efforts.
The positive news comes after criticism grew last week from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and others regarding numerous issues with DOE’s initial tepid response to the radiation release (WC Monitor, Vol. 25 No. 12). The reentry had originally been planned the day before, but delays in the delivery of lapel radiation monitors pushed back the operation. The reentry marks a major step forward in the mine’s recovery, as the six weeks that passed since the release led to questions from local officials as to why the recovery was not progressing and speculation as to the cause and extent of the contamination. This week’s efforts followed other recent initial actions in preparation, including last week’s unmanned monitoring instruments lowered into the salt and air intake shafts, which showed no radiation in that area, which is far from where the radiation release is believed to have occurred.
No Airborne Contamination Detected
While the workers who went underground were suited in anti-contamination gear with breathing units, as expected, neither of the teams detected any airborne contamination. “While in the underground facility, the teams surveyed conditions from the Salt Shaft Station to the Air Intake Shaft Station to establish two useable exit locations—a requirement for future underground work,” states a DOE release. “They also established communications with the Central Monitoring Room above ground using a mine pager and landline phone, installed an additional continuous air monitor near the Salt Shaft Station to provide additional monitoring capabilities and established an underground base of operations for future entries into the mine.”
They also installed four portable Continuous Air Monitors to measure radiation levels in preparation for future reentries—When the initial radiation release occurred officials reported that the mine did not have multiple monitors and garnered some criticism for a lack of redundancy. “We tentatively expect another entry within the next week after final evaluations of the best practices from the first visit are complete,” stated a DOE release. “The next entry will establish a work area farther south in the mine, install another CAM, and test communication equipment. The results from this entry will set the stage for the third phase of the manned re-entry when the team will work to identify the source of the radiological release.” Once the source is identified, a plan will be developed to mitigate the contamination and corrective actions will be implemented, according to DOE.
Number of Contaminated Workers up to 21
This week DOE reported that bioassay tests showed that 21 workers have been exposed to “very low levels of contamination that are well below the level that would cause health concerns.” This is an increase of previously reported number of 17 contaminated workers, who were all aboveground following the radiation release. A total of 148 workers have entered the bioassay program, according to DOE. An initial lag in the response means that the worker contamination was “preventable,” according to the DNFSB. “Shelter in place instructions were not given until ten hours after the first indication of a problem, and over four hours after a release had been confirmed by local readings. As a result, the internal contamination level of workers, although minor, was nevertheless greater than necessary,” the Board said in a letter to lawmakers last week.
