Nuke Site Workers Report Ailments (Hanford)

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Wednesday November 3 3:40 AM ET  

Nuke Site Workers Report Ailments  

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - Hundreds of former Hanford nuclear reservation 
workers are reporting a number of work-related ailments, mostly 
diseased lungs and hearing loss, researchers said.  

In one of two national medical screening projects, 98 percent of 900 
construction workers surveyed believed they had been exposed to 
hazards at Hanford, and 86 percent believed their health had been 
affected.  

``These perceptions of workers about concerns for their health (are) 
largely borne out in results we're getting from (subsequent) medical 
examinations,'' said Knut Ringen, project director for The Center to 
Protect Workers Rights.  

A summary of early findings from Ringen's project - the Hanford 
Building Trades Medical Screening Program - and the University of 
Washington Former Hanford Worker Medical Program were presented at a 
news conference here Tuesday.  

The screenings are the first independent, science-based evaluations 
of health risks to former production and construction workers who 
worked at Hanford anytime in its 56-year history.  

Hanford was established as part of the secret Manhattan Project to 
build an atomic bomb during World War II. Today, the mission at the 
560-square-mile site in southeast Washington state is cleaning up the 
radioactive and hazardous waste created during 40 years of plutonium 
production for the nation's nuclear arsenal.  

The screening programs, paid for by the Energy Department, were 
ordered by Congress and started three years ago to determine whether 
workers experienced significant health risks as a result of their 
jobs at DOE sites.  

Roger Briggs, Hanford health studies coordinator for the DOE in 
Richland, said the findings will help the agency find better ways to 
protect current worker health and safety.  

The projects also found:  

-Nearly half of former Hanford production workers had initial chest X-
rays showing abnormalities. Eighteen percent had diminished lung 
function, when the comparable average for the same age range would be 
about 5 percent.  

-Seventy percent of workers had hearing loss, compared with about 50 
percent for a comparable industrial population. Eighty-five percent 
of those surveyed reported hearing impairment, compared with 22 
percent in the general population.  

-More than 5 percent of those tested were positive for beryllium 
sensitization. Beryllium is a metal that was used at Hanford and can 
cause lung disease. Between one-third and one-half of those workers 
can expect to develop lung disease within five years, researchers 
said.  

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/scperle

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