Crews with U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) designed a unique and challenging scenario to test the effectiveness of emergency response during the Hanford Site’s recent Annual Field Exercise.
Office of Environmental Management
July 16, 2024
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RICHLAND, Wash. — Crews with U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) designed a unique and challenging scenario to test the effectiveness of emergency response during the Hanford Site’s recent Annual Field Exercise.
This year’s exercise began with a tornado that touched down on the Hanford Site, causing power outages, damaging buildings and launching a Hanford Patrol vehicle into a waste storage area.
Lasting nearly seven hours, this “severe event exercise,” required once every five years, presented a longer and more complicated scenario than normal. The exercise included simulating two separate releases of hazardous materials, which required emergency classification and participation from across the One Hanford team and from several outside agencies.
Hanford Site employees in the Joint Information Center answered realistic questions called in by a mock media team from DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory during a recent emergency exercise.
Hanford Site firefighters, along with radiological control technicians with contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company, practiced removing protective gear during a recent field exercise.
A Hanford Fire response team simulated wrapping and loading a contaminated and injured worker in an aid car during a recent field exercise.
HMIS’ Emergency Management & Preparedness team spends months crafting the scenario, objectives, guidelines and timeline. The team recruits personnel to act in the various emergency response roles they’ve been trained in, as well as controllers, evaluators and observers who ensure the response follows Hanford’s emergency plan and procedures.
Hanford Mission Support Assistant Manager Brain Harkins acted as the EM representative in the Hanford Emergency Operations Center during the exercise.
“This was an opportunity for hundreds of people on the Hanford Site, and even in the community, to put our training to the test,” said Harkins. “Emergency exercises help us fine-tune our skills and identify opportunities for improvement. The teamwork displayed during this event is an excellent example of a successful One Hanford collaboration.”
-Contributor: Reneé Brooks
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