K-25 uranium polluted

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

K-25 uranium polluted

DOE now admits there was three times as much as earlier estimated 

September 30, 1999

By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel Oak Ridge bureau
OAK RIDGE -- The U.S. Department of Energy acknowledged Wednesday that
17,800 tons of recycled uranium -- containing a small percentage of
plutonium, neptunium and other radioactive materials -- was handled at
the K-25 Site in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. 

 That's about three times as much contaminated uranium as DOE estimated
a couple of months ago when responding to questions about the federal
project, which processed uranium previously used as fuel in nuclear
reactors. 

Concerns about worker exposures to these radioactive substances have
grown following reports of health problems at the Paducah, Ky.,
uranium-enrichment plant, which processed even greater quantities of the
recycled uranium. 

DOE said about 100,000 tons of the tainted uranium was introduced into
the processes at the Kentucky plant. 

As many as 11 DOE plants may have handled quantities of the recycled
uranium at some point, but the investigation currently focuses on the
three uranium-enrichment plants at Paducah, Oak Ridge and Portsmouth,
Ohio. 

Dr. David Michaels, DOE's assistant secretary for health, safety and
environmental, held a press conference Wednesday via telephone hookup
with reporters around the nation. 

Michaels said DOE is not yet in a position to determine if workers
became sick because of exposures to these radioactive materials. He said
the federal agency is trying to build a base of information that will
help authorities make an assessment of health effects. 

Dozens of former workers at the K-25 plant have complained of illnesses
they blame on toxic exposures at the Oak Ridge plant, and doctors who've
examined the workers concluded in a preliminary report that at least
some of those problems are related to work there. 

According to updated information released Wednesday, the Oak Ridge K-25
Site processed a lot less of the contaminated uranium than Paducah,
but more than other DOE facilities. 

The 17,800 tons of recycled uranium came to Oak Ridge decades ago from
reactor sites in South Carolina and Washington state. The shipments
contained significant quantities of substances much more radioactive
than uranium -- including 60 grams of plutonium, 3.5 kilograms (7.7
pounds) of
neptunium and 103 kilograms (226.6 pounds) of technetium. 

Additional quantities of technetium may have come to Oak Ridge via
uranium initially enriched at Paducah, DOE said. 

Former workers at K-25 have said they were unaware that any radioactive
materials other than uranium were being processed in plant systems.
They also have reported about accidents, leaks and other work problems
likely exposed them to the substances. 

DOE officials said they don't think all of the contaminated uranium was
introduced into the K-25's gaseous diffusion operation, which
concentrated the level of uranium-235. 

Much of the recycled uranium that came to Oak Ridge -- about 12,000 tons
-- may have been sent to a conversion facility (Building K-1131) at
K-25,
where the uranium oxide was converted to uranium hexafluoride (UF6). The
tons of UF6 may then have been sent to the Paducah plant for enrichment
work, DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt said. 

Michaels said the Oak Ridge situation is particularly complex because of
the variety of nuclear activities there. 

He said a DOE team would report to Oak Ridge early next year to begin
examining the K-25 situation in detail. 

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, Michaels and numerous other DOE
officials have visited Paducah in the past couple of months to promise
workers and residents that the agency will address their concerns. 

The uranium-enrichment facilities at K-25 were shut down in 1985, and
BNFL Inc., a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels, currently is engaged
in cleaning up some of the old building and recycling tons of
contaminated scrap metals. 

The company announced plans Wednesday to accelerate that project with
the opening of a new workshop. 

Michaels said he was somewhat "dismayed" that most news reports have
focused on plutonium, perhaps because its hazards are widely known by
the public. 

A bigger concern, however, may be the neptunium and technetium because
those radioactive materials were present in much larger quantities, he
said. 

Neptunium, like plutonium, emits alpha radiation as it decays, and could
pose a range of health concerns -- such as lung or bone cancer -- if
inhaled or ingested, Michaels said. 

Technetium releases beta radiation and significant exposure to that
material may be linked to thyroid cancer and perhaps other illnesses, he
said. 

Frank Munger can be reached at 423-482-9213 or twig1@knoxnews.infi.net.
-- 
==================================================
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
136 South Illinois Avenue, Suite 208
Oak Ridge, Tennessee  37830
Phone (423) 483-1333; Fax (423) 482-6572; E-mail loc@icx.net
VISIT OUR UPDATED WEB SITE:  http://www.local-oversight.org
==================================================
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html