Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said this week they are each considering steps to hold the Department of Energy accountable at the Hanford Site tank farms. Both visited the Hanford area Thursday, dropping hints at a press conference about what their next steps may be.
Ferguson, a Democrat up for re-election, is focused on efforts to immediately protect Hanford workers from chemical vapors. He filed a lawsuit in September against DOE and its tank farm contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), seeking increased worker protection. But it is a complicated case that is not expected to go to trial until next May, he said. Ferguson said he has asked his staff to find a way to accelerate the process of protecting workers under the lawsuit. He also has requested that his team take a broad look at what other legal options the state has to hold the federal government accountable “not next year, not next month,” but now.
Since April 28, 47 Hanford workers have received medical evaluations for possible exposure to chemical vapors associated with the radioactive and chemical waste stored in Hanford’s underground tanks. “The events of the past several days are a disturbing illustration of why I filed a lawsuit against the federal government to protect Washingtonians who work at Hanford,” Ferguson said. The workers reporting suspicious odors or symptoms in recent days are among hundreds who have been exposed to chemical vapors over decades, and he is out of patience, he said. “How many Washingtonian workers need to be exposed to vapors before the federal government solves this problem?” he asked.
Behind the data on possible worker exposures are real people, just like the members of his family, Ferguson noted. He has called on President Barack Obama and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to take a personal interest in protecting Hanford workers.
Over the past 15 months WRPS has been working through the steps of a detailed vapor protection plan based on the recommendations of an independent assessment led by the Savannah River National Laboratory. The tank farm contractor has taken interim steps that include setting up restricted areas around vapor sources like vents, training employees on strict procedures, and supplying workers with protective equipment. It is requiring workers to used self-contained breathing apparatus for much of the work at the tank farms, including work that disturbs waste, which increases the risk of the release of chemical vapors. The possible chemical vapor exposures that were reported last week initially appeared to be associated with the transfer of waste from Tank AY-102, a double-shell tank being emptied because of an interior leak, to a sturdier double-shell tank in the AP Tank Farm.
For example, two workers had left a vapor control zone set up for the project and taken off their respirators when they smelled an odor. However, personnel continued to report suspicious odors and symptoms after the transfer work stopped Thursday. Ferguson said WRPS needs to immediately get workers on supplied-air respirators if that is what it takes to protect them. Of the 47 workers who received medical evaluations, 34 reported symptoms, which could include headaches, coughing, and sore throats. The other 13 had no symptoms. Workers are concerned that exposure to chemical vapors could cause serious long-term neurological or other medical issues. Ferguson and Wyden both planned to meet with affected workers late Thursday afternoon after the press conference.
Wyden spent much of Thursday at Hanford, touring the tank farms and being briefed by DOE officials. He will consider what he heard and then lay out the next steps to hold DOE accountable, rather than shooting from the hip, he said at the press conference. He’s a longtime watchdog of Hanford, using legislation in the past to hold DOE accountable. He succeeded in getting legislation passed in 1990 that created what came to be called the Wyden Watch List. It included tanks at risk of an explosion because of a possible buildup of flammable gases. DOE spent a little more than a decade clearing tanks from the list.
The lawmaker said he is concerned about recent events at the tank farm, including the status of possibly leaky double-shell tanks and worker exposure to chemical vapors, but he also is interested in a wider view of tank farm issues. DOE has spent $19 billion of taxpayer money in 20 years “yet not a single gallon of high level radioactive waste has been treated,” he said. The money amounts to about $1,700 for every resident of the states of Oregon and Washington, and those people want to see results, he said. DOE seems to be in a cycle in which deadlines are missed, explanations or excuses made, and new deadlines are set, he said. “We have got to do something different,” according to Wyden.
Even on the Wyden Watch List, DOE appears to have left work unfinished, Wyden said. A decade after the department said issues were resolved, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board raised questions, the senator said. The defense board said in 2012 that DOE needed to do more to guard against a buildup of flammable gases in Hanford’s double-shell tanks. The agency continues to work through a phased plan to resolve the issues, which were brought to its attention nearly four years ago, Wyden pointed out.
He also questioned why it has taken so long to inspect the bottom of Tank AY-102. DOE confirmed that the tank had an interior leak almost four years ago. The technology to inspect the bottom of the primary tank, which sits on a ceramic refractory base, does not exist, DOE officials told him at the briefing. As part of the Office of River Protection’s Grand Challenge program, Hanford officials have asked DOE national laboratories for proposals for a crawler that could look at the base of the tank. Although questions were raised recently been raised about whether a second Hanford double-shell tank has an interior leak, department officials said they do not believe that is the case.
Some radioactive readings were collected from the ventilation system of the space between the tanks of Tank AY-101, but they appear to be from past contamination events dating to as early as 1976, DOE said. An inspection with a video camera showed no leaked waste between the tank’s shells.
Wyden also was briefed on DOE’s vapor protection program. Agency officials are “decent and honorable people,” but the fact that more than 40 workers are concerned they were exposed to harmful vapors should be a wakeup call, he said.
