Hanford transformer may have leaked PCBs

RICHLAND – As many as five workers at a metal recycling yard may have been exposed to PCBs from a transformer that was not properly emptied before it was sent off the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in south-central Washington.

Fluor Hanford, a contractor handling cleanup at the highly contaminated Hanford site, sent 60 transformers to Twin City Metals, said Judy Connell, Fluor Hanford spokeswoman. The transformers, once mounted on poles at Hanford, were used to reduce electricity to usable voltages.

All should have been drained of dielectric fluid, a mineral oil used to keep the transformers from overheating. However, one of the transformers, weighing several hundred pounds, was not drained. When it was dumped onto the ground at the metal recycling yard on June 1, a part broke and about 50 gallons of fluid drained out, Connell said.

The concentration of PCBs – combinations of man-made chemicals – was below Environmental Protection Agency standards for environmental reporting and the fluid had no radiological contamination, Connell said.

At the time of the spill, several workers were driving forklifts or other vehicles in the yard, said Craig Cameron, an EPA environmental scientist.

One of the workers has developed a type of rash linked to skin exposure. The worker reported rummaging around in a load that was dumped in the area where the liquid spilled, Cameron said.

Fluor Hanford has offered to move him and his family out of their home temporarily while the Hanford contractor determines if he tracked home the PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls.

The level of exposure to the workers is not yet known.

People are more commonly exposed to PCBs by eating contaminated fish. Exposure can cause an acnelike rash, and long-term PCB accumulation in the body can result in liver damage or cancer.

The soil where the spill occurred at the recycling yard has been dug up, and sampling will be done to determine whether any contamination was missed.

Fluor Hanford has taken samples from the home and car of the worker who appears to have symptoms of exposure. The company also is conducting a formal assessment of the incident.

The Department of Energy will conduct a formal assessment of the incident and oversee Fluor’s response, spokeswoman Karen Lutz said.

“We set high safety expectations from contractors to prevent these types of incidents from occurring,” she said.

The federal government created the Hanford nuclear site in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Today, it is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup expected to be completed in 2035.