RE: Contaminated uranium in the news again

["Stokes, James" <StokesJ@TTNUS.COM>]

 I find it rather disturbing that the current people within the DOE, did not

know how widly spread this "contaminated" uranium was.  Those of us who knew

our jobs, knew we were working with recycled uranium.  The entire program

was based on recycling.  Not because "we" were environmentally concious per

say, but rather to mask the production rates.  TO my knowledge, virtually

every site handled recycled uranium.  But many of those sites also handled

"weapons grade" materials too, which are much more dangerous to one's

health.



I would provide you with numbers, but I can't.  I will suffice it to say

that a radiological assessment was performed, and as long as the

"contaminate" concentration was below a certain threshold, the practices for

uranium were adequate for worker protection.  Once the concentration

exceeded that threshold, additional safety practices were incorporated.



If the current Administration does not know this, they need to find the

right people to talk too.  That would be those who used to do the work.  We

knew what we were working with, even if they did not know.



Jim Stokes RRPT, former defense programs contractor.



-----Original Message-----

From: AndrewsJP@AOL.COM

To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Sent: 6/25/01 6:48 AM

Subject: Contaminated uranium in the news again



http://www.newsday.com/ap/text/national/ap165.htm



This is on AOL news today and elsewhere.  How bad is this contamination?



Anybody know?

It would be nice to have the numbers so we could answer questions.



AP National 

Contaminated Uranium Threat Widens



ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Thousands more workers than first thought could

face 

serious health threats from exposure to plutonium and other highly 

radioactive matter that fouled a large amount of uranium recycled by

U.S. 

nuclear weapons programs, a published report says.



>From 1952 until 1999, when the shipments ended because of the

contamination 

threat, vast quantities of recycled uranium were shipped worldwide.



New government studies, reviewed by USA Today and reported in Monday's 

editions, found that the recycling program yielded 250,000 tons of

tainted 

uranium, or about twice as much as earlier estimated. The highly

radioactive 

material was handled at about 10 times the number of sites previously 

revealed and reportedly reached more than 100 federal plants, private 

manufacturers and universities.



''This stuff circulated much more widely than we'd thought,'' said

Robert 

Alvarez, an official at the Energy Department when the new studies were 

started in 1999.



USA Today said the latest studies suggest that thousands more workers

than 

expected might have unwittingly faced radiation risks beyond those

associated 

with normal uranium. That exposure could significantly increase their

odds of 

developing cancer and other diseases.



AP-NY-06-25-01 0617EDT<  





06/25/2001 





John Andrews

Knoxville, Tennessee

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