Atomic Plant Operator Denies Harm

["JOHN JACOBUS" <JENDAY1@email.msn.com>]

Atomic Plant Operator Denies Harm (washingtonpost.com)This appeared in
today's Washington Post

-- John
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Atomic Plant Operator Denies Harm
By Joby Warrick
Saturday, April 1, 2000; Page A06

The operator of the Energy Department's Hanford Nuclear Reservation
yesterday denied that any employees were harmed or mistreated in the
aftermath of a 1997 chemical explosion.

Fluor Corp. of Aliso Viejo, Calif., said it took "appropriate, reasonable
and responsive actions" to ensure workers' safety following the blast that
damaged a plutonium processing building inside the heavily contaminated
weapons complex near Richland, Wash.

The assertion followed reports of a lawsuit filed by 11 current and former
workers who allege that company officials lied to them about the accident
and barred them from learning whether they had been exposed to radioactive
materials. The suit, which names Hanford operating contractor Fluor Daniel
Corp., a division of Fluor, was formally filed yesterday in a federal court
in Spokane, Wash.

The company previously acknowledged mistakes in its handling of the
accident, including the release of erroneous information about medical
screenings conducted in the hours after the blast. But yesterday, a
spokesman said the company offered workers "many avenues of assistance,"
including private medical evaluations.

Further, Fluor said there is no evidence workers were exposed to harmful
radiation or chemicals in the explosion. The workers, however, contend that
monitoring tests were delayed until it was too late to find proof of
radiation exposure.

© 2000 The Washington Post Company
-------------------------------

John Jacobus, MS
Medical Health Physicist
3050 Traymore Lane
Bowie, MD 20715-2024
jjacobus@exchange.nih.gov (w)
jenday1@email.msn.com (H)




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