Response to TRU issues at Paducah

["Putz, Mike" <PutzMS@pgdp.usec.com>]

Fellow Rad-Safers,

Fellow RadSafers,

I am forwarding you a local editorial authored by one of our CHPs for the
Paducah Sun newspaper.  Although it is general in nature, it may provide
some insight beyond what you've heard from the national media.

Michael Putz
Health Physicist
USEC-Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant

---------------------------------------

This letter was sent to the Paducah Sun and was published on Sunday, August
15, 1999

Editor:

The Washington Post article that you printed and the aftermath that has
resulted has been very frustrating to me.  I have never seen so much
mis-information published on a topic.  DOE representatives, Union
leadership, and employees are all saying that they did not know that we had
plutonium at this plant.  I think the problem is that people are not aware
that plutonium is also known as a transuranic element (above uranium on the
periodic chart).   Other transuranics of concern include isotopes of
neptunium and americium.  All of these have been and remain a concern at the
gaseous diffusion plant.  The plant established a transuranic program in
1991 that has been maintained to this day.

In fact, the presence of transuranics is one of the reasons that I am at the
plant.  I am one of four Certified Health Physicists that was hired in 1991
and 1992 to address this very issue.  I have often made the statement that
if we did not have transuranics, we could be a chemical plant once again.
But we do have some legacy contamination that contains up to 8% transuranic
materials (including plutonium).  For this reason, we use much more
stringent controls on release of materials, monitoring out of areas, wearing
protective clothing, and using respirators.  As an educational note, all of
the transuranic isotopes are of about equal hazard to plutonium.  Americium
is found in most of the common smoke detectors that we have in our homes.

Of course, I was not here prior to 1992, but I have read reports from the
fifties and sixties.  It would appear to me that the plant had a very good
Health Physics program in the years that reactor returns were being
processed.  Contrary to the reports in the newspaper, the plant was aware of
this unwanted contamination and special controls were taken.  I have read of
the special ventilation that was employed when dealing with parts that were
contaminated with neptunium.  There were references to a lesser amount of
plutonium.  Extra air monitoring and special urine sampling was indeed
performed.  I trust that all this information will be forthcoming.

So, what is the big deal?  Three employees have filed a law suit and the
details are sealed.  We do not know the specific allegations.  Until the
charges are delivered to Lockheed Martin and are made public, we can only
speculate.  In the meantime the community is being fed some very misleading
information and fears are running rampant.  My family and friends from out
of town are calling to see if we are safe.  We need some balanced reporting
that will restore some sanity to this situation.  Since the experts employed
by USEC and DOE contractors will not be trusted, I suggest you contact the
Health Physics Society (www.hps.org) for the names of some unbiased experts.
In the meantime, let me assure my neighbors and co-workers that we are not
in any danger from contamination from the plant.  In time, the truth will
bring this out.  

Winborn (Windy) Gregory
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html