The hoods in 70-269 had become very cluttered over the years. Many past researchers had left secondary chemical containers and samples in the hoods. The current 70-269 lab area personnel listed above took time to clean out the hood areas and dispose of a number of poorly identified items.
In particular, a large container of "Sodium Chloride" was removed from the hood. It was good thinking on the part of the lab personnel that they checked the container contents and found that it was not sodium chloride, but some unknown yellow/brown powder. They quickly brought this to my attention and requested assistance. They were later able to identify that the unknow powder was spent silica gel contaminated with Nitroaniline, a toxic/corrosive chemical left by a previous researcher. A LBNL-wide "Lessons Learned" was issued as a result of their efforts.
