Crews Make First Entry into McCluskey Room for Final Cleanup at Hanford Site

RICHLAND, Wash. – Workers are cleaning up one of the most hazardous rooms at the Hanford site: the “McCluskey Room,” named after a worker who was injured there in a Cold War accident. Watch a video of one of the first entries into the room here.

   Crews with EM Richland Operations Office contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M HILL) are using specially designed suits to protect them from contamination inside the McCluskey Room at the site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant. The first entry into the room since 2011 took place this month. Crews have since worked to improve ventilation and airflow to better protect workers from airborne contamination in the room as they clean it out.

   “That was the first of multiple entries workers will make to clean out processing equipment and get the McCluskey Room ready for demolition along with the rest of the plant,” said Bryan Foley, acting federal project director for the Richland Operations Office. “It took a year to prepare for this first entry. The time and effort workers put into finding the right equipment and training will ensure they are as prepared as possible to remain safe during the cleanup.”

   The room was used in the Cold War to recover americium, a highly radioactive plutonium byproduct. It is named the “McCluskey Room,” after worker Harold McCluskey. He was injured in 1976 when a vessel inside a glove box burst and exposed him to radioactive material. McCluskey, who was 64 at the time, lived for 11 more years and died from causes not related to the accident.

   Today, employees are cleaning out the room thanks to the use of advanced supplied-air systems and protective suits never before used on the Hanford site. Workers traveled last year to a similarly contaminated EM site in Idaho and observed the use of the systems and protective suits, which the contractor adopted for use at Hanford. For more details on that information exchange, click here. A video about this equipment is available here.

   “The employees helped choose the equipment, trained on the equipment, and gave us feedback on its performance in training,” said Mike Swartz, CH2M HILL’s vice president for the Plutonium Finishing Plant Closure Project. “Their input helped us make some adjustments along the way and has been the key to being able to enter the room safely as we start this challenging cleanup project.”

   Since 2008, EM and CH2M HILL have been preparing the Plutonium Finishing Plant for demolition. Of the plant’s 238 glove boxes, 212 have been removed or cleaned out and readied for removal during demolition. Of 81 buildings that made up the plant, 63 have been removed.