Plutonium plant demolition to restart after safety steps expanded

A day after a labor group ordered a stop to demolition work at the Plutonium Finishing Plant, leaders have worked out new safety protocols with contractors overseeing the Hanford project.

The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council, an umbrella group of about 15 unions working at Hanford, issued a stop work order Thursday after low levels of airborne radiation were confirmed in samples collected at or near the site.

The order came two days after the state Department of Health reported the presence of very low levels of radioactive plutonium and americum were detected in the air near Highway 240 at Hanford.

The samples were collected June 8, a day after about 350 Hanford workers were ordered to take cover after monitors detected low levels of airborne radioactive contamination.

Open-air demolition involving heavy equipment was underway at PFP when the alarm sounded shortly before 7 a.m. June 7.

HAMTC and CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., which is managing demolition at PFP, met Friday and agreed to a “path forward,” according to a message to CHPRC employees from Ty Blackford, president and CEO.

“Before new demolition work will resume, the boundary around the demolition area will be expanded approximately another 150 feet beyond the current safety boundary,” he said in a Friday update to its initial post.

Blackford thanked union leaders for raising concerns and expressed support for a site-wide policy that gives all Hanford employees the authority to stop work to ensure protection and safety of the Hanford workforce.

Blackford said the agreement will enhance safety of the Plutonium Finishing Plant project and employees as it enters the final phases of demolition primarily by expanding contamination control zones through the final demolition.

“While this change does impact the project teams and their goals, I believe these changes as suggested by HAMTC leadership and worked through the project leadership are sound and worthwhile to assure improved safety and better isolation from hazards during demolition as we come into the final phases of this important project,” he wrote.

HAMTC officials were not available to discuss the stop-work order, which was posted on its Facebook page.

HAMTC’s safety representative issued the stop-work order over “concerns over events both inside and outside of the facility.” It confirmed that the order was modified to allow demolition to proceed following the meeting.

The Plutonium Finishing Plant produced two-thirds of the nation’s Cold War-era plutonium, generating discs that were supplied for nuclear weapons production. The main processing facility operated between 1949 and 1989.

In late July, the Department of Energy’s Richland Operations Office and CH2M marked demolition on the main processing facility, which contained two processing lines where workers handled plutonium buttons through a series of glove boxes.

Demolition began in November and is proceeding from the outside in.

This story was originally published August 11, 2017 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Plutonium plant demolition to restart after safety steps expanded."