Re: Update on Explosion at Hanford

["Conklin, Al" <awc0303@hub.doh.wa.gov>]

George's summary is a good one. I mentioned last week that I would offer 
comment on the accident. When USDOE downgraded the Alert, it became a 
potential regulatory issue for my program, since USDOE/Hanford is my 
licensee (Under 40 CFR 61 subpart H and various state laws tied to the 
federal Clean Air Act). Under our regulatory program, and at the 
invitation of USDOE, we went in as an independent agency to verify that 
no plutionium was released to the air by this accident. We knew, during 
our intitial response that there was no release sufficient to require 
offsite protective actions, but, given the sensitivity of plutonium, and 
this particular facility, in the eyes of the public, we all thought it 
would be valuable to prove beyond a reasonable shadow of doubt, that 
plutonium was not released. Then we could head off any debate over 
alleged health effects.

This summary is not a critique of the accident or how USDOE handled it. 
That is being done separately between the Department of Health, the 
Department of Ecology, the state Emergency Management Division and the 
counties. I will mention that the state and counties were not notified of 
the Alert until three hours after the explosion occurred.

Room 40, in the Plutonium Reclamation Facility (PRF) is a chemical 
make-up room, so no Pu is stored there; however, the room has been 
subject to past contamination by Pu-239. We didn't know how much, but 
some was cleaned up, and the rest was fixed under ALARA paint. The 
explosion "domed" part of the roof, breaching it slightly.

My intent is to put together an airtight case. Except for the explosion 
itself, we have been able to verify that the facility has been able to 
maintain a negative pressure, with effluents passing through the 
building's main HEPA banks (CAM data, strip charts and differential 
pressure records).
There were five field teams out that night (Three Hanford, and two 
state), with enough data to demonstrate that no protective actions beyond 
those taken, were necessary).
We have data from Hanford ambient environmental monitoring program, data 
from the WNP-2 nuke plant's ambient program, US Ecology's perimeter 
monitoring program, and the state's environmental program. The projected 
plume (if there had been a release) cooperated, by passing directly over 
a wealth of samplers.  We have had access to periodic total alpha counts 
on many of those filters. Isotopic Pu analyses are due any time now. Tha 
alpha decay has been consistent with radon progeny. 

The news media is very impatient  for our results. I keep referring to 
our investigation as a 500 piece puzzle. We now have about 400 pieces put 
together with no indication of a Pu release, but the puzzle still needs a 
few more pieces put together. They understand the analogy.

We are proceeding cautiously, so no one (or almost no one) will doubt our 
conclusions. I say almost no one, because I have received a few 
interesting messages including one unbelievable E-mail message accusing 
me of all kinds of misdeeds associated with my involvement. 

The report we produce will be clearly written for public consumption. If 
anyone wants a copy when its done, please E-Mail me at the address below. 
It will probably take another week.

Just so you won't think everything has been hunky dory during our 
investigation, we almost had to issue a Notice of Violation to DOE 
because an individual was refusing us data (after DOE had publicly asked 
for our assistance.) The individual refused on the grounds that he was 
afraid we would over react to the preliminary total alpha count data, 
saying it was Pu. For the record, we have a regulatory right to data for 
the air pathway, as soon as its produced. A few well placed threats 
finally got the message across . We haven't over reacted yet, though I 
thought about it just for fun.



Allen W. Conklin
Head, Air Emissions & Defense Waste
Division of Radiation Protection
Department of Health
P.O. Box 47827
Olympia, WA  98504
Work - (360) 586-0254
Fax    - (360) 753-1496
Internet :  awc0303@hub.doh.wa.gov