Los Alamos Workers Exposed to Plutonium

[Nambe]

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. AP

Two workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory were exposed to plutonium while working in a part of the lab where the radioactive substance is processed, the lab said Friday.

According to a news release from Los Alamos, the workers were taking inventory Tuesday of older cans of plutonium when an air monitor alarm sounded.

Both workers left the room, according to the lab. Neither saw leaks or other visible defects on the cans.

In tests, both showed nasal contamination, an indication that they might have inhaled plutonium. Other results indicated skin contamination on the first employee's head, upper torso and arms, and on the second worker's head. ---

The Running Co$t of War In Iraq

[Mel]

1. oh Man!

this is awful! I feel sorry for those workers. So, who knows more than I do about this it sounds really bad to me.....it is isn't it? Is this pretty much a death sentence for these people?

[PartyPooper]

2. What does this exposure to plutonium mean?

I'm no scientist, so, I haven't a clue about the medical repercussions for these two workers. I hope they will be alright. But, will their health forever be ticking time bombs?

[truthisfreedom]

3. unless they were somehow completely scrubbed clean...

they probably will get some kind of cancer. it's really harsh stuff. the tiniest grain of plutonium embedded in a lung will almost invariably cause cancer. you have to remember, this stuff is chosen as the stuff of bombs for a reason.

this is a very very sad story.

[bicentennial_baby]

4. Yep

"1.4 How can plutonium affect my health?

Plutonium may remain in the lungs or move to the bones, liver, or other body organs. It generally stays in the body for decades and continues to expose the surrounding tissues to radiation. This may eventually increase your chance of developing cancer, but it would be several years before such cancer effects became apparent. The experimental evidence is inconclusive, and studies of some human populations who have been exposed to low levels of plutonium have not definitely shown an increase in cancer. However, plutonium has been shown to cause both cancers and other damage in laboratory animals, and might affect the ability to resist disease (immune system). We do not know if plutonium causes birth defects or affects the ability to have children. However, radioactivity from other radioactive compounds can produce these effects. If plutonium can reach these sensitive target tissues, radioactivity from plutonium may produce these effects.

1.5 What levels of exposure have resulted in harmful health effects?

Plutonium is odorless and tasteless so you cannot tell if you are being exposed to plutonium. If you breathe in plutonium, some of it will be retained in your body. When discussing harmful health effects, the amount of plutonium that caused these effects is usually given as the amount of plutonium retained or deposited in the body rather than as the amount that was in the air.

There is no information from studies in humans or animals to identify the specific levels of exposures to plutonium in air, food, or water that have resulted in harmful effects. However, it is generally assumed that any amount of absorbed radiation, no matter how small, may cause some damage. When expressed as the amount of radioactivity deposited in the body per kilogram of body weight (kg bw) as a result of breathing in plutonium, studies in dogs report that 100,000 pCi plutonium/kg bw caused serious lung damage within a few months, 1,700 pCi/kg bw caused harm to the immune system, and 1,400 pCi/kg bw caused bone cancer after 4 years. In each of these cases the dogs were exposed to the plutonium in air for one day."

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs143.html

[diamond14]

10. Plutonium experiments on dogs: DEATH in two months (link)

read about the horrible studies done on humans, dogs, baboons....these are nasty scientists, fueled by tons of Pentagon money (our tax money)....it was Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary (under Clinton) that opened up these records and put a stop to this insanity...the Pentagon went crazy and demanded her resignation...and now bush* starts this madness all over again...

home link to DOE Human Experiments
http://tis.eh.doe.gov/ohre/index.html

DOE/EH-0463

HUMAN RADIATION STUDIES:
REMEMBERING THE EARLY YEARS
Oral History of Health Physicist
William J. Bair, Ph.D.

-snips-

"I think the earliest deaths that we had after inhalation of plutonium in dogs was about two months . I don't think we were ever able to get them to inhale enough that it would cause death earlier than that. This was just due to massive destruction of the respiratory tissue. It generated a lot of fluids and essentially drowned them in their own fluids. I think that was perhaps unexpected."

'We subsequently demonstrated that several times. It's also been demonstrated in other laboratories in Europe and also in Lovelace that plutonium-238 is different. In terms of long-term effects in our dogs and the animals at other places, inhalation of plutonium-238 oxide will result in both lung tumors and bone tumors, whereas inhalation of plutonium-239 oxide only results in lung tumors. I think it was an interesting finding of this laboratory. Much of my work, I should say, too, was supported by Air Force funds.'

http://tis.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/histories/0463/0463toc.html#0463_fore

[diamond14]

11. Plutonium experiments done on humans (link: caution, graphic)

home page...DOE Human Experiments
http://tis.eh.doe.gov/ohre/index.html

http://tis.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/histories/0475/0475b.html#Plutonium

http://tis.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/histories/0475/0475toc.html

DOE/EH-0475

HUMAN RADIATION STUDIES:
REMEMBERING THE EARLY YEARS
Oral History of Health Physicist Karl Z. Morgan, Ph.D.

-snip-

MORGAN: Bob Stone—the associate director under Compton—had his office next to mine at X-10. One morning, he came in all excited and upset. You will have to put this in context of the time and the location that we were in. We were in the South, and it's no reflection on the African Americans, but they were called "niggers." I'm only telling you as I recall; my memory is far from perfect.

As I recall, he said, "Karl, you remember that nigger truck driver that had this accident sometime ago?" I said "Yes," I knew about it. He said, "Well, he was rushed to the military hospital in Oak Ridge and he had multiple fractures. Almost all of his bones were broken, and we were surprised he was alive when he got to the hospital; we did not expect him to be alive the next morning. So this was an opportunity we've been waiting for. We gave him large doses by injection of plutonium-239."

Of course, when you say "-239," it has some -238 and -240 mixed in, but primarily -239. "We were anticipating collecting not just the urine and feces but a number of tissues, such as the skeleton, the liver, and other organs of the body. But this morning, when the nurse went in his room, he was gone. We have no idea what happened, where he is, but we've lost the valuable data that we were expected to get."

[diamond14]

5. this is too sad....bush* starting up plutonium manufacturing again

and NO safety in place, likely these workers were contractors, improperly trained and no protective equipment...they should not have been in that room without special Plutonium respirators, protective clothing and gloves, and working in glove boxes...why is bush* re-starting Plutonium manufacturing and then exposing workers to deadly exposures...?????

the Plutonium on their skin and heads could perhaps be properly removed (depending on the emergency response at Los Alamos, and whether THAT was done right, but initial indications are that it is still a circus at Los Alamos, totally inadequate safety measures)...why were their upper arms and torsos NOT covered with protective clothing???...what is going on there for SAFETY???....

inhaling Plutonium is VERY BAD...it becomes imbedded in the lung and emits radiation until you die from cancer...it can also cause brain cancer....and some people exposed to Plutonium end up with multiple cancers of different types...a sort of full-body death from the alteration of cells...Plutonium is one of the most deadly toxins known....nobody can say how long these people might live (since this rarely happens), but this is VERY BAD....if adequate safety was in place, this would not have happened...usually, the higher the dose, the faster the death....and having it all over TWO people's arms, torsos, and heads suggests an awful high dose...

bush* should STOP his insane re-start of Plutonium manufacturing NOW...more KILLING from the shrub cabal...

BOOT bush* in 2004
http://www.democrats.org

here's a historical photo of people working with Plutonium in glove boxes which protect them from exposures, and keep the Plutonium under Nitrogen, so it doesn't ignite...

http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Library/Plutonium/

[seventhson]

6. Lots of info at Radiation.org

I highly recommend it.

The entire population of the US has been exposed to man made radioactive isotopes leaked from nuke plants and other facilities. It mutates germs and viruses and bacteria (causing things like SARS, Lyme disease, west nile, Norwalk virus, and possibly even aids) and I believe it responsible for these "mysterious deaths" in Iraq.

But if you are not using a dosimeter you'd never even know you were erxposed. We all have been and it is affecting all of us aND WILL KILL MANY OF US.

HALLIBURTON IS A huge NUKE BUILDER/OPERATOR AND THAT IS WHY THIS IS BEING COVERED UP.

[diamond14]

7. yes, there will be a BIG downplay on this one...like "oh, it's no

problem, just a little itty bit of radiation, no need to be worried"...especially with contractors employees...they know little, and are desparate for a job, so they'll just go home and die later, outside of the whole issue, quietly shrub hopes...

IMO, it represents a HUGE problem at Los Alamos....starting with "what are they doing with a bunch of OLD CANS of Plutonium laying around???" and what about the Personal Protective Equipment and training for these employees???....

[madrchsod]

8. this last week there

was a program about rocky flats...i think it was worldlink... the amount of plutonium-about 13 lbs- in one nuke trigger if evenly disturbed could kill everyone in the world. they will die.

[diamond14]

9. smells like BNFL Corp. - the ENRON of nuclear business....

"BNFL....a British Company in USA...the "ENRON" of nuclear business"

Collecting billions of dollars in American taxpayers money every year, BNFL (a British corporation) doesn't seem to ever get any real work done on nuclear waste, nuclear weapons sites, endangers American citizens health and safety, falsifies data, and after collecting billions, just take the money and walk away, frequently leaving a much more dangerous situation for others to take care of....the ENRON of nuclear business...(and shrub is asleep at the wheel on this major crisis...this is another bush* scandal, a BIG one and a very dangerous one, especially with our loose Plutonium)

what follows is just a few examples of BNFL work, and that WE THE PEOPLE of the United States of America, continue to award BNFL billions of dollars annual is beyond my comprehension....

http://www.wise-paris.org/index.html?/english/ournewsletter/17_18/contents.html&/english/frame/menu.html&/english/frame/band.html

What a Waste BNFL: Privatization Bye, Bye...?

-snip-

The story is unusual, to say the least. The only other case, one can recall, is the falsification of welding x-rays in certain French nuclear power plants years ago. When the UK Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) published its damning report on "MOX fuel data falsification at BNFL, Sellafield", on 18 February 2000, the story had been around for a few months, but few expected such a harsh and unusual judgment by the safety authorities: "In particular, the deficiencies found in the quality checking process will have to be rectified, the management of the plant improved and operators either replaced or retrained to bring the safety culture in the plant up to standard the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) requires for a nuclear installation". In the meantime the incriminated plant remains shut down.

http://archive.greenpeace.org/pressreleases/nucreprocess/1999dec23.html

-snip-

BNFL PLUTONIUM FUEL SCANDAL EXTENDS TO SWITZERLAND Swiss

Safety Authorities Confirm to Greenpeace that Damaged Fuel was Rejected 23 December 1999 AMSTERDAM -- The plutonium nuclear fuel scandal that destroyed British Nuclear Fuel's (BNFL) plutonium business in Japan in recent months also extends to fuel used in a Swiss reactor in 1996, Greenpeace has discovered. Swiss authorities revealed to Greenpeace that the BNFL plutonium fuel used in the Beznau power plant in northern Switzerland, and operated by the NOK utility, was removed in 1997 when it was found to be damaged and leaking radiation after only one year.

http://www.ananuclear.org/bnfl.htm

-snip-

We urge you to join us in asking DOE to debar BNFL from holding any contracts to do work at the nuclear weapons complex. We presented a petition to DOE on March 23, signed by 47 groups, asking Secretary Richardson to debar and/or suspend BNFL from any contracts (transmittal letter enclosed). Our groups, and many others, are concerned about BNFL's corporate behavior, which includes falsification of plutonium fuel rod data and massive contamination of the Irish Sea. Already other nations have suspended contracts with BNFL and the US should as well. DOE is conducting an in-depth probe of BNFL's contracts in light of the worldwide scandals regarding its' falsification of data. DOE also has canceled the plutonium incinerator that BNFL was scheduled to build at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab, after concerns were raised about downwind pollution and BNFL's abysmal environmental track record. BNFL holds major contracts at the Oak Ridge, TN facility and the Hanford, WA site, both of which have already experienced problems and raised serious concerns about BNFL's credibility.

http://www.usbusiness-review.com/0209/08.html

-snip-

BNFL Inc. is part of a large British company, but in the United States it has a specialized niche in decommissioning and demolishing former nuclear energy sites, radioactive waste management and nuclear facility operations.
–Kevin M. McCarthy ..........
-snip-

Miskimin says the environmental management business contracts with the DOE are a $6 billion a year market, and BNFL is working contracts in Oak Ridge, Tenn., Aiken, S.C., and Idaho Falls, Idaho, along with Rocky Flats, Colo., and Hanford, Wash. “We do both classified and unclassified work,” Miskimin says.

http://www.acfonline.org.au/docs/publications/rpt0021.pdf

-snip-

(page 9 of 24 pages pdf file)

In 1998 BNFL (a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels) was appointed to supervise the cleanup of the contamination legacy . It was hired for its supposed expertise in "glassifying" nuclear waste, a technique by which the waste is dried, combined with moltern glass and then poured into steel. In 2000, BLFL's contract was terminated - after an announcement that its expected costs would rise to $15.2 billion, up from $6.9 billion in 1998.


BNFL makes Haliburton scandals look like chicken feed....
Haliburton ripped millions, BNFL rips BILLIONS....