US to probe plutonium exposure case

WASHINGTON, AUG 9: US Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has ordered an investigation into the case of thousands of workers unwittingly exp...

WASHINGTON, AUG 9: US Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has ordered an investigation into the case of thousands of workers unwittingly exposed to plutonium for more than two decades at a federally owned plant in Kentucky.

The Washington Post, citing court documents, plant records and interviews, reported that uranium workers at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant inhaled plutonium-laced dust brought into the plant for 23 years until as recently as 1976.

The workers were exposed to the plutonium and other radioactive metals in work areas, locker rooms and even cafeterias, the newspaper said. The government did not inform workers about the hazard even after employees started to notice a string of cancers in the 1980s.

8220;8217;I8217;ve ordered a full investigation to examine these issues,8221; Richardson said in a statement on Sunday. 8220;I am determined to uncover more about what actually occurred, who was responsible and what must be done to assure that it never happens again.8221;

Richardson said a team ofhealth experts was sent to the plant in June to assess the situation and found 8220;no imminent threats8221; to public health, worker safety or the environment. The investigation is continuing.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences will independently investigate any possible links between illnesses and exposure to hazardous materials at Paducah and other energy department sites, he said.

Richardson also ordered a department official to Paducah to meet with workers, began an immediate medical surveillance programme for current workers and ordered a comprehensive study of employees8217; medical histories dating back to the 1950s.

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The Energy Department will review the legal responsibility of contractors at the plant and seek to expand a compensation programme for current and former workers made ill by exposure to beryllium at energy department nuclear sites to include workers exposed to radioactive materials, Richardson said.

8220;I will not rest until these issues are fully dealt with and anyinjured workers are fairly compensated,8221; he said.

The Post said a lawsuit filed under seal in June by three current plant employees alleges that radiation exposure was a problem at Paducah well into the 1990s. The suit names two private firms that managed the uranium enrichment plant in the 1980s and 1990s, but the post said these two companies had not been served with the suit and would not comment on it.

The Post said the Paducah plant issue was an 8220;unpublished chapter in the still unfolding story of radioactive contamination and concealment in the chain of factories across the country that produced America8217;s cold war nuclear arsenal.8221;

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Radioactive contaminants from the 300-hectare plant, built in 1952, spilled into ditches and eventually seeped into creeks, a state-owned wildlife area and private wells, the newspaper said.

Plutonium, a key ingredient in nuclear bombs, is a highly radioactive metal that can cause cancer if ingested in quantities as small as one millionth of anounce.

The Post said plutonium was introduced to the Paducah plant, designed to handle the vastly less less radioactive metal uranium, in tiny but highly dangerous quantities in used uranium brought to the plant from 1953-1976 as part of an experimental nuclear reactor fuel recycling programme.