workers at the Energy Department's gaseous diffusion plants in Kentuckyand Ohio have been exposed to beryllium

["Charly Frey" <cfrey@ssi-group.net>]

PADUCAH, Ky. - At least 65 current and former workers at the Energy Department's gaseous diffusion plants in Kentucky and Ohio have been exposed to beryllium, a toxic metal that can be fatal. 

The industrial metal, noted for its strength and durability at high temperatures, might have been in equipment used in day-to-day production of enriched uranium, according to documents obtained by The Courier-Journal. 



            BERYLLIUM  

            Beryllium is a light, strong metal with a high melting point that makes it valuable for industrial uses as an alloy with other metals. When inhaled, beryllium dust can cause serious respiratory illness and even death. Exposure can leave scars in the lungs and other organs, and the time from exposure to symptoms of illness can be 40 years. 

            Beryllium cases handled by the Department of Labor for all U.S. defense and nuclear industry sites, as of Jan. 15: 





            a.. Sensitivity claims (blood test indicates a reaction to the metal): 

            filed, 2,186; approved, 895 





            a.. Chronic disease claims (being treated): filed, 2,620; approved, 1,127 



            a.. Total paid: $133 million 

           

     

Health screenings at the Paducah plant have found one worker with chronic beryllium disease and five workers who have developed a sensitivity to it, meaning a blood test indicates their bodies have formed a reaction to the metal and could get the disease later, according to the Energy Department. 



Eight workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, have chronic beryllium disease and 10 are sensitive to it. 



The Energy Department has never acknowledged the use of beryllium in production equipment at its Paducah and Ohio plants, but officials now say they're taking the discovery seriously. 



"This came as a surprise to us," said William Murphie, the department's manager of the two plants. Until now, the department has said the only contact at Paducah with beryllium was at least two decades ago when machinists milled the metal in a short-lived program to produce weapons parts for other government agencies, and that the metal was never used at Piketon. 



But at least 10 of the 44 Paducah workers with some level of beryllium exposure said they were never inside the building where the metal was milled. 



Government regulations call for tight controls and protection for workers from beryllium dust, which can lodge in the lungs, causing serious respiratory illness and, in severe cases, death. 



AT OHIO, internal records dated Jan. 23 show that unexpectedly high levels of beryllium were discovered in testing of aluminum blades in the giant 40-year-old compressors that force uranium gas through filters. 



The records show safety engineers cordoned off and posted danger signs on some metal refurbishing equipment in a machine shop after the beryllium was discovered Jan. 14. 



Mark Griffon, a health physicist working on the federally funded program to screen nuclear workers' health, said the discovery could be significant. 



"It means it could have exposed any number of people to beryllium," said Griffon, who has been investigating nuclear workers' exposure at Piketon and Paducah for more than a year. Griffon said he has never before seen records showing beryllium present in the day-to-day operations of enriching uranium and repairing equipment. 



AT PADUCAH, the compressor blades haven't yet been tested but are similar to those at the Ohio plant. 



The maximum amount of allowable beryllium exposure for workers over eight hours is 0.002 milligrams per cubic meter - the equivalent of something about the size of a pencil point evenly distributed around a football field covered by a 6-foot-high box. 



The Energy Department called the beryllium in the blades at the Ohio plant a "trace contaminant" in the aluminum castings. 



Chuck Johnson, manager of environment, safety and health for the Aluminum Association, a trade group for the aluminum-manufacturing industry, conceded that beryllium could have been a natural trace contaminant in the blades. But Johnson said no beryllium was added to the aluminum alloy. 



The Ohio discovery has sparked calls for an expansion of the Energy Department's $300,000 beryllium testing program, which is scheduled to expire when the current federal budget ends Sept. 30. 



"That was one of the troubling things for us, trying to figure out how these workers who were never around the machine shop tested positive," said Jim Key, safety and health representative for Local 3-550 of the Paper, Allied Industrial, Energy and Chemical Workers Union at Paducah. 



Key estimates that expanding the testing in the machine shop at Paducah where beryllium was used will cost an additional $175,000. The union also wants testing in other Paducah buildings where compressor work has been done. 



Phillip Foley, the president of the Paducah union local, said the Energy Department "has never opened up and told us" about beryllium at the plant, despite Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the union more than a year ago. 



"WE HAVE been questioning this all along," Foley said. "I'm not convinced we have the answers yet." 



A memo obtained by the newspaper yesterday shows the union at the Ohio plant raised questions about beryllium in compressor blades as early as 1997, citing concern for workers who had to weld or grind compressor parts. But the U.S. Enrichment Corp., which manages the plant for the Energy Department, responded that the trace levels in blades were "of not much concern ... and would be considered as impurities." 



Murphie, meantime, said some buildings at Paducah have been tested, including a cleaning building. If the department determines it's "appropriate and necessary," more testing will be done, he said. 



The testing already done at Paducah found beryllium levels within acceptable workplace levels and did not find it in the air, according to a report on the beryllium monitoring at Paducah. 



The follow-up testing at Paducah hasn't found any airborne beryllium around maintenance machines, said Georgann Lookofsky, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Enrichment Corp., which also runs the Paducah plant. 



"As to whether it was a problem 10 years ago, I don't know," she said. 



Until about a decade ago, the compressors - about the size of a compact car - were repaired, cleaned and overhauled by workers throughout the plants. Now, faulty machines are replaced with spares. 



"All over the plant, you had compressors worked on, cleaned and washed off and there was dust and crap on the ground and it went down the sewer," said Herman Potter, who worked at the Ohio plant for 13 years and wrote the 1997 memo. 



BASED ON their answers to work history questions, only about half of the Paducah workers who were screened for health problems were also tested for beryllium exposure, Griffon said. 



"The question now is, should we go back and screen more?" he asked. 



Experts estimate only 10percent of the estimated 20,000 people who have worked at both plants over the past 50 years have had beryllium screening. 



One Ohio worker with beryllium disease is Garry Sexton, 54, a union safety and health representative. Sexton said he was diagnosed last year. 



"It was tremendously disturbing to me," said Sexton, who did not work in the plant's machine shop and said he was never told about danger from exposure to beryllium in his job as a chemical operator. Sexton, with three grown children, said he's able to work but wonders what the future holds. 



"The disease can take several different directions," he said. "You don't have a tremendous number of (treatment) options."