Vapors a risk to workers at Hanford, inquiry finds

[icymist]

Saturday, July 17, 2004

Vapors a risk to workers at Hanford, inquiry finds

By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A new federal investigation presents the strongest evidence yet that Hanford workers are at risk of exposure to dangerous chemical vapors seeping out of massive buried waste tanks and that not enough is being done to protect them.

The investigation, conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, also found that chemical monitoring was insufficient and conducted in arbitrary locations, and that samples were sometimes collected hours after a vapor exposure had occurred.

Tank workers were punished or even fired for raising safety concerns, the report stated, and had a difficult time getting air-filtering respirators from their employer. When they did get respirators, the batteries were sometimes dead.

<snip>

The 21-page report by the federal institute went even further, stating that there is "a potential for significant occupational exposures and health effects from vapors released from the hazardous waste-storage tanks," and that "vapor constituents may be present at sufficiently high concentrations to pose a health risk to workers."

It recommends "providing, at a minimum, air-purifying respirators to workers and routinely sampling the head space of the tanks and the personal breathing zones of workers."

More at this

[icymist]

1. In a related story:

Saturday, July 17, 2004

State seeks halt to Hanford transfers
Federal agency has not complied with laws, attorneys say

By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Washington state officials want to halt all shipments of radioactive waste to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, they announced yesterday.

Next week, state attorneys will ask a federal judge to expand the state's lawsuit against the U.S. Energy Department seeking to stop the import of low-level radioactive waste to the Eastern Washington cleanup site until the department complies with environmental laws.

They also want the department to completely revisit its decision to make Hanford the waste dump for cleanup projects nationwide.

"DOE has failed to prove that shipping more waste to Hanford won't make the nation's most-contaminated site even worse," Attorney General Christine Gregoire said in a statement yesterday.

Groundwater contamination is a key concern at the Hanford site, which is near the Columbia River outside of Richland.

More at this

[NMDemDist2]

2. yes the nuclear chickens are coming home to roost

wasn't there another big story from Savannah River this week too?

[icymist]

3. I wasn't aware of a Savannah River story last week,

but I've been pretty busy and might have missed that one.

[NMDemDist2]

4. here it is

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=11228

[icymist]

5. My my! What messes we've got to clean up!

I hear that there are one hundred different creatures living out in the radioactive muck at Hanford that nobody even knows what they are!

[TahitiNut]

6. Whistleblowers at Hanford are an endangered species.

After working there for 5 years, I've never seen a place more hostile to anyone that "rocks the boat." Groupthink is an epidemic in the whole TriCity area. It's really appalling.

[struggle4progress]

7. kick

:kick: