Fire at Hanford radioactive lab sends workers to hospital
By Annette Cary
acary@tricityherald.com
August 9, 2018
Richland, WA
A Hanford laboratory was evacuated and two workers went to the hospital after a small fire shortly before noon Thursday.
A worker at the 222-S Laboratory in central Hanford put out the fire with a hand-held fire extinguisher while other employees pulled the fire alarm and called 911, according to a message to employees of Washington River Protection Solutions.
The Hanford Fire Department responded and confirmed the fire was out. Surveys were done to verify that no radioactive material was involved.
About 250 laboratory employees evacuated the lab facilities, with all employees accounted for at 12:11 p.m. and sent to air-conditioned office buildings.
One employee was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland with symptoms of heat stress and later reported symptoms of respiratory irritation.
A second employee was taken to the Richland hospital after reporting symptoms of respiratory irritation.
Workers were allowed back into the lab at 3:15 p.m.
The 222-S Laboratory accepts samples of some of the Hanford Site’s most radioactive and hazardous chemical waste to determine the content of dangerous substances down to parts per trillion.
Work is done under fume hoods or in the lab’s 11 radiation hot cells, with operators outside the cells operating tools within the cells.
Most of the analyses are of high-level radioactive waste from Hanford’s underground waste tanks. Information is used to determine what wastes can be combined within tanks and to help plan how workers can be protected while working at specific tanks.
No other information was available Thursday afternoon.
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| 222-S Laboratory |
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The 222-S Laboratory is a 70,000 square foot full-service analytical facility that handles highly radioactive samples for purposes of organic, inorganic, and radio-chemistry analyses. It contains 11 hot-cells, which gives the lab the capability to remotely handle highly radioactive samples of tank waste while minimizing radiation dose to workers. The 222-S Laboratory complex contains over 100 pieces of analytical equipment, 156 fume hoods, and 46 manipulators to perform work. The laboratory plays many roles, which include testing of waste compatibility and physical characteristics to support tank-to-tank waste transfers, performing corrosion rate studies and chemical testing to support tank corrosion inhibition, and providing input to the engineering specifications for each of the 242-A Evaporator campaigns. The laboratory also studies the physical and chemical characteristics of waste necessary to enable waste retrievals, provides data to support tank closure requirements, and supports the Vadose Zone Program. | |