A new report pointed out that in the Hanford Nuclear Reserve in Washington State, exposing workers to radioactive particles is a mistake and the culprit is mismanagement.
The contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. announced on Thursday an assessment of the problems that occurred during the demolition of a plutonium plant that had severely polluted the nuclear reserved area in December last year.
According to the Tricity Herald report, studies have shown that the main radioactive air monitor used in the Hanford high-risk project was initially unable to detect contamination.
Then, when the spread of pollutants was detected, they failed to take effective measures to curb the pollution.
Since mid-December last year, at least 11 Hanford workers have inhaled or ingested small amounts of radioactive particles, while private and government vehicles have also been contaminated with radioactive particles.
This vast area, located southeast of Washington, has stored more than 50 million gallons (18927 hectolitres) of radioactive and toxic waste in underground storage tanks.
It is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, which employs private contractors to take care of cleanup.
Hanford was established during the Second World War, and provided the embarrassment for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in Japan.
The 560-square-mile (1450-square-kilometer) site also produced most of the plutonium for the country’s nuclear arsenal during the Cold War.
A report released on Thursday pointed out that before the proliferation of nuclear pollution in December, Hanford officials rely mainly on continuous air monitors to detect radioactive contamination in the air. If workers are in danger, they will give an alarm.
Monitoring has worked in the past, including in June. When the alarm sounded, workers were asked to evade.
However, the monitor did not detect air pollution in December. This may be due to some particles that are too heavy to stay in the air.
There are other indications of possible pollution problems, such as the discovery of nuclear contamination in monitors worn on workers' lapels, but nuclear contamination relies mainly on continuous air monitors.
The CH2M report currently being reviewed by the Department of Energy lists 42 steps to deal with discovery issues, such as training for radiologists.