Eight Hanford workers reported odors outside of A farm Tuesday morning.
Three workers experienced symptoms and were taken to Hanford’s medical services provider for precautionary medical evaluation in the morning. Two more workers, who did not report symptoms, were taken for evaluation in the afternoon.
The workers were performing set-up work at the 285-A facility, a new water and air service building near Hanford’s A tank farm.
Air samples taken at the area were either at or below background levels.
The workers were not in an area that requires supplied air respirators.
Access to the area has been reopened.
Hanford was the site of a plutonium production plant during World War II, and now workers are faced with cleaning up toxic waste left over from production.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson called on the U.S. Department of Energy, which owns Hanford, to take responsibility.
“Today’s reports of tank vapor exposures are yet another illustration of why I filed a lawsuit (in 2015) against the federal government to protect Washington workers at Hanford,” Ferguson said in a statement. “The federal government should stop resisting our lawsuit, acknowledge the seriousness of this problem, and focus on protecting workers.”
