Guest column: Response protocol at Hanford tunnel breach passed the test

On Tuesday, the roof of an old abandoned tunnel on the Hanford Site, built in 1956, collapsed, leaving a 20’ x 20’ opening into the tunnel. The tunnel had been used to store radiologically-contaminated equipment and materials used in the Cold War beginning in 1956.

Technically, the breach of the tunnel could have caused some of the radioactive material to enter the atmosphere, but it did not. No contamination was released, and none is likely as the opening has now been completely filled.

No workers were injured and everyone is accounted for.

In fact, the incident made for an excellent spur-of-the-moment safety drill for the entire region. Everything seems to have gone as planned, and everyone should get an A-plus.

The Hanford Emergency Center was activated at 8:26 a.m. and the Hanford Fire Department was quickly on scene. Radiological surveys began immediately.

Several thousand workers were told to shelter in their buildings, standard protocol for possible airborne contamination. The order was later lifted.

The Department of Energy quickly notified Governor Inslee, who also got a call from the White House.

Non-essential Hanford workers were told to go home. Most swing shifts were canceled. No one was allowed to enter the site and flights over Hanford were restricted.

Franklin and Benton counties activated their emergency operations centers, but said the public did not need to take any protective actions.

The Richland School District told parents there was no danger to its schools and that they were not affected in any way by the incident. WSU Tri-Cities also verified no danger at its Richland campus.

Work continued at the commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station, 12 miles away.

However, many people from Oregon to New York took the opportunity to freak out or weigh in on the issue, even though there never was much potential hazard. Anti-nuclear activists said the incident was potentially deadly, even though it wasn’t. No one talked to an actual nuclear scientist.

As reported in detail by the Herald, this tunnel was part of the PUREX plant, which processed more Cold War plutonium than any other facility in the world from 1956 to 1988. PUREX was one of those big things that helped win the Cold War. Some equipment became contaminated and was temporarily pushed into this old 360’-long tunnel made of wood and concrete covered with about 10 feet of soil.

During those years, keeping PUREX production going for the Cold War was more important than waste management. The tunnels were just a simple way to temporarily store these materials for a future crew to deal with.

But the Cold War went on and on, and no crew ever came to deal with it.

Which is why we need to clean up these sites as quickly as possible. We know how to do it, but we can’t seem to use common sense, science-based solutions given our politicized, perfection-required, get-every-stray-photon, irrational fear of radiation. This tunnel should have been back-filled and grouted in place 20 years ago. If it had, the roof would never have collapsed.

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 7:25 PM with the headline "Guest column: Response protocol at Hanford tunnel breach passed the test."