Uranium Workers Used in Experiments

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Uranium Workers Used in Experiments

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) February 6 - Some workers at a federal uranium 
processing plant participated in experiments in the 1950s that had 
them breathing the radioactive element, The Courier-Journal reported 
Sunday. 

Some of the participants at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant 
volunteered for the tests, but some may not have been informed of the 
dangers, according to a draft report by the Department of Energy on 
an investigation of health, safety and environmental problems at the 
western Kentucky plant. 

In one experiment, staff members volunteered to breathe a radioactive 
gas to see how quickly uranium was excreted in their urine, according 
to the report. 

In other tests, a senior staffer drank a solution containing uranium, 
and at least 14 workers tested the effectiveness of respirators 
against radioactive dust, gas and smoke, according to the report. 

A copy of the report was obtained by The Courier-Journal. 

Although the general dangers of radiation were known at the time of 
the experiments, its interactions with the human body were not 
entirely understood. Many believed that uranium dust and byproducts 
of the enrichment process posed little or no hazard for humans. 

The draft report also says wholesale pollution of the air, ground and 
water around the plant - in quantities that may have been 
significantly underreported - may have exposed residents to 
radiation. 

When asked about the report, Energy Department officials said only 
that it was under review. The Paducah plant has been managed by the 
department, as well as by predecessor federal agencies and private 
contractors. 

The report details a range of problems at Paducah from 1952 to 1990. 
For years, investigators found, workers were not always told of the 
dangers they faced working with highly toxic radioactive materials. 
And their families may have been exposed when workers took 
contaminated clothing home to be laundered. 

Vast amounts of uranium-contaminated smoke, steam and gas were vented 
into the open air - sometimes secretly in what employees called 
``midnight negatives.'' Inside some buildings, workers were exposed 
to unplanned releases and leaks of radioactive gases and hazardous 
chemicals such as hydrofluoric acid, the report said. 

The department began its review after a lawsuit by three employees 
alleged that former plant operators Lockheed Martin Corp. and Martin 
Marietta Corp. had profited by lying to the government about the 
extent of environmental pollution and worker exposure to radiation. 

The investigators said that although measured exposures to radiation 
were high by today's standards, total exposures were comparable to 
those occurring at Defense Department facilities, commercial nuclear 
power plants and other DOE factories. 

However, documents showed that, during the 1950s, 40 to 60 workers 
sought medical help every four months after exposure to accidental 
releases of uranium, hydrogen fluoride and fluorine. 

In a companion story focusing on a feed mill at the Paducah plant, 
The Courier-Journal reported that workers were exposed to radiation 
levels so high it was possible for a worker to be exposed to as much 
radiation in one day as was then considered safe for an entire year. 

The paper cited a newly released report, dated Feb. 21, 1961, that 
contained data on radiation emissions. 

During a typical week, about 60 to 70 men worked round the clock in 
four shifts in the feed plant, producing fluorine from hydrofluoric 
acid and combining the lethal gas with uranium powder. The feed mill 
was closed in the late 1970s.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Biomedicals, Inc.				E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
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Personal Website:  http://www.geocities.com/scperle
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