Retraining Ordered After Worker Errors at Hanford Nuclear Site

Emergency retraining was ordered for hundreds of workers at the nation’s largest nuclear waste site after one worker was contaminated by lowering a rock on a rope into a radioactive storage tank.

A construction contractor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation sent 51 workers home without pay on Thursday. They will not be allowed back until they complete extensive retraining on safety.

In addition, 300 employees of Westinghouse Hanford Co., the main Energy Department contractor that oversees operation of the nuclear waste tanks, will forgo normal duties to receive safety training, Westinghouse Vice President William Alumkal said.

Alumkal made the decision to stop all but essential safety and maintenance work at the tanks after two major worker errors in the past two weeks--the accidental start of machinery in a potentially explosive area and the rock-lowering incident.

In both cases, “there could have been a change in circumstances of a very small nature that could have led to a serious injury or death,” said Phil Hamric, deputy Hanford manager for the Energy Department.

No date for full resumption of work was set.

Hanford’s 177 underground tanks contain 61 million gallons of radioactive wastes left over from four decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons. Many have leaked and others are at risk of exploding.