Y-12 uranium releases judged no health threat

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

Y-12 uranium releases judged no health threat



Knoxville News Sentinel

By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com

June 3, 2003



http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_2007028,00.html



OAK RIDGE - Uranium releases from the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant do not

pose a threat to public health and never have, a federal agency

concluded in its review of previously existing data. 



"We don't see any public health concerns, past or current,'' Paul Charp,

senior health physicist with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease

Registry, said Monday. 



Charp is principal author of the report, which evaluated the health

significance of Y-12's uranium releases. He and other staff members from

the ATSDR held meetings Monday to discuss the results with local

residents and other members of the public. 



Y-12 was built during the World War II Manhattan Project for work on the

first atomic bomb. The plant manufactures nuclear warhead parts from

highly enriched uranium and other materials. 



The health assessment relied on data from a number of sources, including

an earlier report by the state of Tennessee; records from the U.S.

Department of Energy; and samples taken last year in the Scarboro

community by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Florida A&M

University. Scarboro is the nearest community to Y-12. It is separated

from the plant by Pine Ridge. 



Charp said radioactive emissions from Y-12 currently are thousands of

times less than levels that would be a concern. Even during Cold War

production peaks of the past, emissions never reached a level likely to

be linked to cancer, he said. 



Fannie Ball, a former Y-12 worker who has lived in Scarboro since 1955,

said she believes the plant has damaged her health and many others in

the community. She strongly disagreed with ATSDR's conclusions. 



"I do not believe that,'' Ball said. "I don't know how that is

possible.'' 



The ATSDR is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It is the federal agency responsible for evaluating the health effects

of hazardous materials in the environment. 



The Y-12 assessment is the first of nine health studies that will be

conducted in Oak Ridge because the government's nuclear facilities are

on the Superfund priority list. 



Upcoming studies will look at the health impact of: mercury in East Fork

Poplar Creek, polychlorinated biphenyls in Watts Bar Lake, radioactive

materials in the White Oak Creek basin, uranium releases from the K-25

plant, radioactive iodine releases from Oak Ridge National Laboratory,

fluorine releases from K-25, off-site groundwater pollution and releases

from the toxic-waste incinerator at K-25. 

-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

Toll free 888-770-3073 ~ www.local-oversight.org

.....................................................

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