Hanford Contractor Applauded for Action to Dispose of Potentially Hazardous Chemical

RICHLAND, Wash. — An employee with EM Hanford Site 222-S Laboratory contractor Navarro-ATL recently encountered a chemical that required removal from the site by the local explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) unit after the chemical was placed in a safe configuration. Workers executed established procedures and practices to ensure the safety of the sample and the workforce throughout the process.

Navarro-ATL has been stabilizing and transporting aged chemicals to offsite treatment, storage and disposal facilities since the start of its contract in 2021. The contractor expects all aged chemicals to be offsite by the end of this year.

"The safe analysis of high-level waste samples is the priority of our operation at the 222-S Lab to support risk reduction in the cleanup mission," said Robert Schroeder, Analytical Operations director for Navarro-ATL. "We balance the workload to maintain that priority against the need to address the backlog of chemicals leftover from years of past laboratory operations."

On Feb. 20, a lab worker preparing aged chemicals for offsite shipment encountered a vial which contained a small amount of aged nonradioactive chemicals awaiting disposition.

The worker noticed that crystals had formed within the vial, indicating the chemical inside may have reacted with air, creating a potentially dangerous situation.

The worker immediately stopped work and followed procedures for the abnormal condition, including exiting the area and notifying operations management.

As a matter of caution, operations management evacuated workers from the areas adjacent to the chemical location and notified the Hanford Emergency Operations Center and Hanford Fire Department. Fire department staff went to the laboratory and determined that the quickest and safest means of disposition was to contact the local EOD unit to move the chemical offsite for destruction. Based on the worker’s quick response to the abnormal condition, the EOD unit removed the vial from the site, and work resumed at the laboratory within hours.

"The worker's swift action and the contractor's decision to contact the Emergency Operations Center for immediate removal was the right approach to this abnormal condition," said Paul Schroder, Hanford deputy assistant manager for Tank Waste Operations. "Safety is always the priority, as it was in this situation."

Work done at the 222-S Laboratory represents a critical component of Hanford Site cleanup since it is the primary onsite laboratory for analyzing both radioactive and nonradioactive samples supporting all Hanford projects.