Building leasing at the department of energy's Hanford site: Lessons learned from commercial reuse

The mission at many locations of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) complex has shifted from materials production for atomic weapons to environmental remediation. DOE and neighboring communities are interested in diversifying local economies, including through the transfer of DOE property for commercial reuse. But Department leasing programs have raised occupational health concerns in two locations. A 1997 DOE review of leasing at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, site, and leasing at the Hanford site in central Washington state led us to examine the building leasing program at Hanford. Because of past operations in Building 313, we recommended that the building be surveyed for beryllium. Results were positive, and the tenant company may have generated the beryllium detected. We compare lessons learned from Oak Ridge and Hanford. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.