Odor Of Smoke Forces Workers Out At Hanford Same Building Where Chemicals Exploded

The same Hanford nuclear reservation plant where a chemical explosion occurred in May was evacuated Thursday after workers reported smelling smoke, officials said.

Fire alarms at the Plutonium Finishing Plant were activated at 9:30 a.m. and employees were evacuated as a precaution, the U.S. Department of Energy and contractor Fluor Daniel Hanford said in a news release.

The Hanford Fire Department responded but could not locate the source of the smoky odor, which quickly dissipated, officials said.

The odor apparently came from a faulty fluorescent light fixture, officials said. No hazardous chemicals or radioactive materials were involved, they said.

Evacuated workers remained in a nearby office complex until normal operations resumed in the plant about three hours after the alarms had sounded.

As a precaution, 19 employees who reported smelling the smoke were taken to the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation’s facilities in Richland for a medical evaluation.

Hanford officials could not be reached for comment as to the workers’ conditions. A phone message left after business hours for spokesman Mike Talbot was not returned.

The plant is a former plutonium processing facility which has been shut down for several years. Workers are now cleaning and deactivating the plant.

A 400-gallon tank containing nitric acid and hydroxylamine exploded at the plant on May 14. The blast blew the lid off the tank.

The chemicals were not radioactive, but the blast created a chemical cloud.