Federal Energy Secretary Federico Pena on Monday ordered all Department of Energy plants to take actions to prevent accidents like a recent explosion on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Pena’s directive, issued in Washington, D.C., came in response to a report on the May 14 chemical tank explosion at Hanford’s Plutonium Reclamation Facility. Officials at Hanford said corrective actions ordered by the secretary already are under way.

“We are aggressively and methodically reviewing our procedures and practices,” acting Hanford manager Lloyd Piper said, adding that Hanford’s response “will significantly improve the safety of our employees and neighbors.”

Pena ordered Hanford and all other Energy Department sites to scrutinize their use or storage of potentially explosive, flammable or toxic chemicals and develop a process for disposal.

The secretary ordered Energy field offices to reassess chemical and radiological vulnerabilities of plants that have been shut down, are on stand-by, are being deactivated, or have otherwise changed their mode of operation.

A third initiative calls for the agency and its contractors to assess the technical competence of their staffs to recognize potential hazards.

Finally, Pena called for field offices to assess both site “lessons learned” and occurrence reporting programs to ensure that information is properly evaluated and tracked.