* Workers contaminated with plutonium at
LANL.
* "Subcritical" nuclear test to be
detonated in Nevada.
* EPA fines Brookhaven National Laboratory
for safety violations.
* Nuclear accident drill to take place on
March 14.
* Despite protective gear, four Los Alamos
National Laboratory employees were exposed to plutonium
contamination last week in two separate incidents. In the first
occurrence, the hazardous radioactive metal escaped from a
supposedly sealed container into the air of a room at the lab's
top-secret plutonium facility. Workers left the room when
radioactivity was detected on their protective clothing. Lab
officials claim that radiation exposure was minimal for the
workers, but said that the airborne radioactivity inside the room
could have been a concern, if the workers had not been wearing
respirators. Despite the protective clothing and respirators,
one of the workers had plutonium contamination on the skin of his
chest, and another had traces of plutonium on his hair and
nostrils, suggesting that he could have inhaled plutonium as
powder. Plutonium is most deadly when inhaled, and may cause
cancer. Lab spokesman Jim Danneskiold suggested that perhaps the
seal on the exposed worker's respirator was inadequate. The
worker in question will be monitored to determine whether
plutonium oxide entered his body.
Later that day in a second incident, a worker's inner
clothing and the badge and keys around his neck showed
contamination. Both incidents involved the use of glove boxes,
which have portals and leadlined gloves that allow workers to
handle radioactive materials inside the boxes. In the second
incident, the glove in the box, which had been certified four
days earlier as safe, proved to have a pinhole leak. These
exposures come at a time when the U. S. Department of Energy is
pressuring the University of California, which operates the lab,
to make LANL safer or lose part of its fee. Lab supervisors in
the section were asked to remind workers to make sure plutonium
cans are well sealed and to check all the seals on face
respirators.
* The next "subcritical" nuclear test to be
conducted by the DOE will be detonated at the LYNER (U1a)
facility at the Nevada Test Site this month. The test, named
"Stagecoach," was designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and
is scheduled for late March. It will utilize 2 pounds 13 ounces
of plutonium and 255 pounds of high explosives. Subcritical
tests are so termed because DOE claims that a self-sustaining
chain reaction that can lead to a nuclear explosion in a weapon
will not be initiated in these tests. Therefore the Department
argues that these tests do not violate the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions. Three other tests
have been scheduled for detonation this fiscal year. Each test
was originally scheduled to cost 15-20 million dollars, but costs
of early tests reportedly were doubled. The tests are part of the
DOE's larger Stockpile Stewardship and Management (SSM) Program.
* According to the New York Times, the
Environmental Protection Agency asked for 80 thousand dollars in
fines for safety violations uncovered at Brookhaven National
Laboratory on Long Island, NY last year. The E.P.A. said it would
fine both the lab's owner, the DOE, and the former operator of
the laboratory complex, Associated Universities Inc. When the
problems were first revealed by an environmental inspection, lab
officials said they were taking corrective measures. Since that
time, other hazards, including leaks of radioactive tritium,
caused DOE officials to levy their own fines on Associated
Universities, and terminate its contract. A new manager took
over the laboratory on March 1. Violations included
malfunctioning monitors for nitrogen oxide emissions from
boilers, unauthorized disposal of liquid waste into over 200
injection wells, failure to determine that silver-bearing waste
was hazardous, and disposing of it improperly in a sewage
treatment plant. The lab claimed that it had fixed the emissions
monitors and tightened its waste disposal procedures.
* Santa Fe emergency-response teams will
hold a nuclear accident drill near the intersection of Airport
Road and NM 5999 on March 14. The drill will give citizens a
chance to see how a traffic accident involving nuclear waste
would be handled. The exercise will begin about 8 a.m.,
Saturday, March 14, and will last about two hours. A collision
will be simulated between a cement truck and a semi carrying Tru-
Pac containers.
Because it will occur outside the city limits, volunteer
firemen, not the city's paid firemen, will be the "first
responders," said Mary Ellen Carroll, the city's public
information officer. City, county, state, and federal agencies
will be called in, as well as the DOE, because of the imaginary
nuclear payload. Simulated injuries will be taken to St.
Vincents's emergency room.
The incident will have a 160-foot "hot zone," and bystanders
within it may be drafted into the scenario. Space will be
cordoned off for the media and spectators
