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Tests Show Workers At Hanford Nuclear Facility Inhaled Radioactive Plutonium (king5.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from King 5, a local news station for Seattle, Washington: On June 8 approximately 350 Hanford workers were ordered to "take cover" after alarms designed to detect elevated levels of airborne radioactive contamination went off. It was quickly determined that radioactive particles had been swept out of a containment zone at the plutonium finishing plant (PFP) demolition site. The work is considered the most hazardous demolition project on the entire nuclear reservation. At the time Hanford officials called the safety measure "precautionary." Officials from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, which owns Hanford, and the contractor in charge of the demolition, CH2M Hill, downplayed the seriousness of the event with statements including, it appeared "workers were not at risk", "(the alarm went off) in an area where contamination is expected" and there was "no evidence radioactive particles had been inhaled" by anyone.
The KING 5 Investigators have discovered those statements are incorrect. An internal CH2M Hill email sent to their employees on July 21 was obtained by KING. It states that 301 (test kits) have been issued to employees and of the first 65 workers tested, a "small number of employees" showed positive results for "internal exposures" (by radioactive plutonium). Sources tell KING the "small number of employees" is twelve. Twelve people out of 65 is 20 percent. Still outstanding are 236 tests. A communication specialist with CH2M Hill sent a statement that more positive results are expected. "We expect additional positive results because analytical tests like a bioassay can detect radiological contamination at levels far lower than what field monitoring can detect," said Destry Henderson of CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company.
The KING 5 Investigators have discovered those statements are incorrect. An internal CH2M Hill email sent to their employees on July 21 was obtained by KING. It states that 301 (test kits) have been issued to employees and of the first 65 workers tested, a "small number of employees" showed positive results for "internal exposures" (by radioactive plutonium). Sources tell KING the "small number of employees" is twelve. Twelve people out of 65 is 20 percent. Still outstanding are 236 tests. A communication specialist with CH2M Hill sent a statement that more positive results are expected. "We expect additional positive results because analytical tests like a bioassay can detect radiological contamination at levels far lower than what field monitoring can detect," said Destry Henderson of CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company.
...but the toxicity of Pu itself that'll getcha.
The *first* reaction when these events occur is to lie and initiate a cover-up, followed by down-played reports from "officials".
This happens **EVERY** time.
See - 3 Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Hanford, etc. etc. etc And the list goes on.
THERE IS ALWAYS A LIE AND A COVER UP... EVERY SINGLE TIME.
I bet these workers are so incredibly glad nuclear power is such a clean source of energy.
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X-ray vision's not as appealing as it was in the 1950s because there are so many obese American women now, so they should probably hope for the ability to keep over tall buildings instead.
Twelve people out of 65 is 20 percent.
18.5%, if you round up, mathlete.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
How likely is it that this anonymous reader is mdsolar?
The summary and the articles leave out some pretty important information. How much radiation were workers exposed to?
There's one part where CH2M Hill claimed less than you would receive during a chest x-ray, but then it quotes someone else who claims that claim is BS.
These workers that have been identified as possibly exposed should have a "Whole body scan" that will be the gold standard. My prayers go out to them and their families.
I hope this caused some synapses to fire.
That would be me and three cities, Hanford is next door to us. Local Paper on event http://www.tri-cityherald.com/...
The margin of error at that sample size is larger than the difference you're complaining about.
"Radioactive" Plutonium?
Is there any other kind?
The industrial accident is tragic but the "spin" is worse because it can lead to poor precautions and more accidents.
The point here is not about using nukes or not (the stuff exists and has to be dealt with), it's about the lying sacks of shit who hurt everyone by doing so - even their own cause.
Nuke fanboys, if you want to know why we don't have reactors everywhere it's due to these lying sacks of shit making it so an entire industry is not trusted and not the powerless hippies you keep blaming.
If you haven't looked at Wikipedia's "Hanford Site" page, you are in for an education.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site
But before you do, be aware that Dixy Lee Ray and the Washington state voters that elected her bear much responsibility for the environmental tragedy at the site. Her credentials as a "scientist" were used to appoint her to the position of Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission. That was followed by a stint as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Finally she was elected governor of Washington.
This "scientist" advocated dumping highly radioactive waste in the sea, and dismissed any need to clean up the radioactive Hanford Site. As you might expect, she was also an early climate change denier.
If you're going to get a dose, there are a lot worse ways it could happen. The only thing to watch is a whole lung exposure might be low but the pulmonary macrophage in your lungs concentrate the dose as they clean up the particulates.
I've been in those buildings and worked on that cleanup. Compared to some of the routine doses workers used to get in the old days that wasn't all that large. If you adjust the cancer rate for age, Hanford workers have a lower cancer rate than the broader population.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
The title should have read;
Tests Show Workers At Hanford Nuclear Facility Inhaled Plutonium, (which is Radioactive)
There is no non-radioactive plutonium. (Just gota love double negatives!) In someways, it should have listed the exact isotope, like Pu-239. Some plutonium isotopes produce difference levels of radiation, like Pu-238. That's used in RTGs, nuclear batteries. Though to be fair, I have no clue which isotope, (if any), is less bad to breath.
Lady Galadriel
By US researchers on "baboons" (humans in other countries). I guess the good news is that these people will have good data to pull from for expected results.
Folks in Austin know about CH2M. They was supposed to finish adding an extra lane to MOPAC by August, 2015. In February 2016, they said it would definitely be done by the end of 2016. It's still not done, and they have dumped the project onto a subcontractor.
Clearly we should just impose harsh discipline on the affected workers for knowingly stealing hazardous nuclear materials from their job site.
Won't actually solve any problems; but should reduce the number of reports of problems.
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That's too bad. But even if those twelve people all die, it will be fewer than those that are killed by coal. According to one study, a single coal power plant kills more people in one week. And dying due to lung disease is a shitty way to go. Wikipedia on mortality associated with coal power plants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
I do not support nuclear but if global warming is indeed a threat (article just yesterday about dangerous wet bulb temperatures coming to SE Asia, millions could die) it seems like the lesser evil.
Not surprised at all to see them at the center of this mess. Having had the misfortune of working for them, I've formed the opinion that corner cutting, gross neglect, and utter disregard for the well-being of its workers is so ingrained in the company culture that it may as well be official policy.
There is a small group of people who are members of the IPPu Club; the government has them send in urine samples for monitoring.
None had died of cancer, last I read.
Wow. Bad.
Someone should set up funds. Those guys are going to die. Their wives and kids will have to pay for funerals and burials.
would they?
Yep - prepare for lung cancer - all they can hope is that the employees were elderly, and die of something else first.
Pu is an alpha emitter so shielding is easy, but get it inside your lungs, and it's one of the most effective carcinogens out there. Some significant number of smoking caused lung cancer is because when you inhale the smoke, the smoke particles carry radon and similar materials deep into your lungs.
Heavy metal toxicity isn't as big a deal.
After the nuclear powerplant disaster in Japan, Slashdot, following US government protocols for manipulating public opinion, ran stories that lied about the extent of the disaster, lied about the risk, and one actually claimed radiation from such disasters was actually 'beneficial' to Human Health.
Yes you read that correctly- slashdot claimed ionising radiation was good for you.
Sick, evil and standard practice by the owners of slashdot. Like how the mainstream media is filled with outrage at venezuela, yet complete fails to find fault with America's no.1 ally- the infinitely evil regime of Saudi Arabia. Clinton claims to love gay people- yet she loves the regime of saudi Arabia far more. How very very curious. Clinton claims to support women's rights- yet Clinton claims Saudi Arabia must be protected against all censure in the UN, and allowed to head the UN commitee on Women's Rights. How very very curious.
Slashdot lying. Clinton Lying. Slashdot and Clinton lovers claiming to be leftwing, liberal and enlightened.
I know why slashdot lies and pushes Clinton propaganda agendas. I know why Clinton lies. What I don't get is why YOU believe in either?
PS once went to a lecture by an expert in the effects of low levels of radiation. He said that when govenments could get away with it, they all claimed that below a certain dose radiation was completely 'safe'- which led to dreadful abuses through to the 1970s. In reality radiation is like being shot at by a gun from a distance. Every bullet could kill or maim- but the liklihood tracks the number of bullets shot. But in the 50s and 60s this obvious analogy and trivial example of why any level of radiation carries a risk was denied by mainstream media outlets that were the equavletn of slashdot at the time.Do you like being lied to by people who know they are lying, but do so for money or to meet government propaganda agendas?
Show the links, or it never happened.
So it wasn't 3mile island at all. Just normal everyday cancer...
But those people dying falling off a scaffold building a solar panel? Totes the fault of solar power.
Radioactive Plutonium?!
You don't say!
Ever seen non-radioactive plutonium?