Then, the patrol did not immediately notify outside agencies, Gerton said. The PFP's vaguer procedures were the exception, he said. The emergency response will be addressed in the investigation's final report, which is due by June 16. Meanwhile, investigators hope to thoroughly check Room 40 and in the tanks in several days. Checks of records show only one other Room 40 tank containing liquid - 20 to 30 gallons of a chemical investigators believe is stable.
Investigators eventually plan to look inside each tank.
Record checks have been done on all chemical tanks at Hanford. But Gerton is having supervisors and workers look inside and photograph each tank to make sure a similar solution or potentially volatile situation are not present at Hanford. Meanwhile, checks are being conducted at Savannah River, England, France and Japan to see if similar tank explosions occurred elsewhere. So far, two roughly similar violent chemical reactions have been noted at Hanford. The other took place in Room 40 in 1968.