Several Workers Possibly Contaminated At Hanford Nuclear Site
Story originally published Dec. 14, 2017
A half-dozen demolition workers may have been contaminated at the Hanford nuclear site.
Since last Friday, six workers have shown up as possibly contaminated. One worker was possibly contaminated twice.
The workers wear little lapel meters on their collars that sip air and are sent to a lab each day. Those alerted that there might have been elevated levels of radioactive material around them.
The Plutonium Finishing Plant is where this all happened. That was a massive building that used to make so-called plutonium buttons — like the size of hockey pucks — for bombs since 1949.
Workers have been steadily working to tear down that plant since 20-16. It’s nearly done. They think it will be slab on grade in January.
The workers now have to undergo a bioassay. They test each workers’ feces to see if they might have ingested some radioactive material.
Those tests will take about a month to get back.
The president of CH2MHill Plateau Remediation Company says what’s vexing is that the contamination doesn’t appear to have any clear signature or single source. It will take investigating to find out where this material might be coming from.
“We don’t ever take contamination events lightly,” said Ty Blackford, President CH2MHill Plateau Remediation Company. “And if we don’t understand what it is, or where its coming from — the safety of the people first.”
Some of the contamination events happened about 150 yards away from the demo site, while the others
Related Stories:
Programas Head Start reabren en el centro de Washington
Más de 400 niños de varias comunidades del centro de Washington regresaron a sus aulas tras la llegada de los fondos federales para los programas Early Head Start y Head Start de Inspire Development Centers.
One woman finds healing by caring for wild animals on the Palouse
Haku the pig, a resident at Palouse Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, draws lots of attention from visitors. (Credit: Ryan Law) Listen (Runtime 3:49) Read It’s dark inside this large red
Head Start programs reopen in Central Washington
More than 400 children in Central Washington are returning to their classrooms following the arrival of federal funds for Early Head Start and Head Start programs at Inspire Development Centers. The organization offers early childhood education programs to low-income children through various centers.
