Re: EXPLOITED Secrecy took precedence over plant safety

["ruth_weiner" <ruth_weiner@email.msn.com>]

Without invoking Karl Marx, I have grave doubts that what was described was
"the real picture."  What first raised a question in my mind was the phrase
"toxic trichloroethylene" (the modifier "toxic" always bothers me -- is
there NON-toxic TCE?).  TCE was used as a solvent and refrigerant very
heavily well into the 1980s.  This was not a big bad company conspiracy to
poison anybody or even in callous disregard.  We used it in the lab without
precautions - and not even in a hood.   The toxicity, such as it was or is,
was poorly or not at all understood, and even today there is a great deal of
uncertainty about the health effects of TCE.

I also question "diluting uranium..."  Certainly not UF6, which reacts quite
violently in air or with water.  Not UO2, which is pretty insoluble.
Moreover, diluting from what concentration?

Finally, how many of us can accurately describe laboratory or occupational
conditions we worked in 10 years ago, let alone 35 years ago?  I can't tell
you the list of experiments I set up in water quality lab 10 years ago
without looking it up, nor can I recall how many eyewash fountains we had,
what shelf the baking soda was on, how many feet from the lab door the
pull-down shower handle was located.  I believe the autoclave was on another
floor, but I can't be sure.

There were certainly industrial facilities where working conditions were
dreadful  and the workers suffered unconscionably -- the asbestos plant in
Tyler, Texas comes to mind, as does the ASARCO arsenic plant during WWII.
That's why OSHA was passed in 1970.  However, I did not read anything like
that in the article presented.  Moreover, the asbestos and arsenic workers,
who had real problems and were dealing with very hard-nosed companies (not
roll-over-and-play-dead DOE) did not wait more than 30 years to raise
questions.

Ruth F. Weiner, Ph. D.
7336 Lew Wallace NE
Albuquerque, NM
505-856-5011
fax 505-856-5564
ruth_weiner@msn.com


>This is more the real picture of gas diffusion plants and disregard for
>worker safety.  Same things happened in Oak Ridge and
Portsmouth---------all
>operated by DOE-ORO.
>
>Jim Phelps, formerly ORNL Sr. Dev. Staff ---rad instr design
>
>Source:
> <A
>



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