1961 Paducah tests indicated neptunium exposure
By James R. Carroll
- Synopsis of the Case -
Attorney, William F. McMurry, is representing current and
former workers, as well as their families, in claims against
former operators of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and
suppliers of uranium contaminated with neptunium and plutonium.
McMurry contends that urine tests performed in 1961 reveal
that 21 men had excessive neptunium stored in their bodies
from long-term exposure to dust levels that were "off the
scale."
Richard C. Baker, a Health Physicist employed by Union Carbide
for nearly 30 years, gave a deposition in the case. Attorney
McMurry's questions of Baker included whether or not Mr. Baker
felt that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson's apology to the
workers for excessive radiation exposure was a "fair criticism"
of Mr. Baker, the health physicist responsible for protecting
workers from harmful radiation.
Mr. Baker responded, "No."
David Fuller, a former union official with the paper, Allied-Industrial,
Chemical, Energy Workers Union at the Paducah plant, stated:
"But without a doubt, protections at the plant -- radioactive
and otherwise -- in those days were not what they should have
been."
The Paducah plant was designed to process uranium. However,
the uranium which was supplied to the plant for processing
was contaminated with some of the most dangerous substances
known to man - plutonium and neptunium.
Attorney McMurry contends that health physics practices during
the 35 years that Mr. Baker served as the Chief Health Physicist,
were woefully inadequate to protect workers from neptunium
and plutonium.
McMurry stated, "If they had recognized that their processing
of uranium was exposing their workers to neptunium to the
degree it was, they would have been required to redesign the
plant to keep the workers from breathing in these substances.
The plant was designed to process uranium. It was never designed
to protect workers from the most dangerous substances known
to man."
|
