Spread of radioactivity at Hanford blamed on lack of discipline

RICHLAND — Lack of discipline and failure to follow established procedures have been blamed for the spread of radioactive material outside a work area at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The findings were announced last week after an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Energy Department review of problems that developed Jan. 12 as workers were checking the last of four canisters of tritium found in a burial area associated with two defunct nuclear reactors. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

"It was very much a failure of conduct of operations on many fronts," said Dennis Faulk, an EPA environmental scientist.

After there were indications that tritium had gotten into a specialty work trailer, radiological-control technicians entered without taking precautions, such as wearing protective clothing, and then tracked the tritium into their own work trailer, investigators found.

The contamination was later cleaned up and officials have said no effect on worker health appears likely.

Chuck Spencer, who became president of Washington Closure Hanford the next week, has promised to emphasize the need to improve safety and follow established procedures.

Neil Brosee, who recently became deputy general manager of Washington Closure, which is cleaning up contaminated areas near old reactor sites along the Columbia River, told a committee of the Hanford Advisory Board last week that the tritium episode should have been avoided.

"I am out to change performance," Brosee said.

Tritium was made on the sprawling Eastern Washington complex, now the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, in a pilot project for use in developing nuclear weapons. The canisters were among 1,500 unearthed items that were categorized as anomalies by Washington Closure.