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.

Comments

Humans can't be trusted with this technology

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:"...Inhaled Radioactive Plutonium"

[Anonymous Coward]

"Is there any other kind?"

Well, there's the Pu-36, that goes into the Explosive Space Modulator. When not inserted, it is quite harmless. It's got Electrolytes.

(This is a decades long joke by Seaborg, who nicknamed Plutonium "Pee U", from the Latin "Puteo", which means "It Stinks". He was expecting to be overruled, expecting "Pl" instead, since "Pt" was already taken by Platinum. However his original suggestion stuck. When it came to naming his own Element, Seaborgium, "S" was taken by Sulfur, "Se" was taken by Selenium, and "Sb" was used for Antimony, "Sr" for Strontium... "Sg" was chosen for "Seaborg, Glenn". This is a new convention in Naming. But when it comes to "Ghiorsium" we run into more problems:
"Ag" and "Ga" have been taken. Al would be comfortable with calling it just "Al", but then there is that pesky Aluminum. So "Gh" has been tentatively chosen. But then we get back to joke names, because Al's actual choice for for naming this yet-to-be-discovered Element is "Ghastlium".
Yes, we're a _lot_ of fun at Parties. After all, "Jello Shots" were invented at Los Alamos, and "Berkeley Punch" was 50% Hawaiian Punch and 50% 190 Proof Ethanol.)

Re:Level of Exposure?

[Orgasmatron]

Right now, the final dose evaluation for the first 65 bioassays show a small number of employees with a dose of less than or equal to 1 millirem. Internal exposures are doses that are measured in millirem the person is expected to receive over the span of 50 years.

For context, CH2M has an administrative dose limit of 500 millirem per year, which are well below the legal limits of 5,000 millirem per year. The results received show a very low internal contamination dose that is significantly less than a typical chest x-ray.

Up to 1 millirem over the next 50 years. This is essentially the lower cutoff of the test being used. It means that it is enough that the test can detect that something is there, but not so much that it can be quantified. With sensitive gear, you could get that result from a nanorem-range emitter. Or, from a 500 microrem emitter.

Basically, if you add up all of the radiation dose received by one of the "contaminated" people for the rest of their life, it is 0.2% of the company's annual limit, or 0.02% of the regulatory annual exposure limit. Oh, and the regulatory exposure limit has a lot of safety margin built in, according to the medical data.

Basically, this story's headline should be "Holy shit, we've got amazing technology for detecting tiny traces of radioactivity."