LIVERMORE — A U.S. Energy Department report found that sloppy procedures involving radioactive plutonium worsened a series of accidents that contaminated employees at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory last year.
Energy Department investigators cited multiple violations by Livermore contractor Washington TRU Solutions, a firm owned by Washington Group International that was hired to dispose of the lab’s radioactive waste.
The report released this week found that workers continued working with plutonium while emergency alarms sounded, warning of a possible contaminant hazard. Workers also unsuspectingly brushed plutonium particles off cutting tools, causing particles to become airborne, where they were inhaled or ingested by three unidentified workers.
A spokesman for Washington TRW acknowledged the three employees could face years of special medical scrutiny, but said he believes their exposure was low enough to make health problems unlikely.
Their exposure to plutonium radioactivity was "about one-tenth of what they’re legally allowed to get as a nuclear worker,” spokesman Jack Herrmann of Washington Group International told the San Francisco Chronicle Friday. "We’re determined to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We’ve improved our procedures.”
Energy Department officials announced Thursday that Washington TRU would be fined $192,500 for the violations that led to the contamination incidents between April and August 2004. Herrmann said his company would not contest the fine.
Washington Group is one of the four main partners in a consortium led by the University of California and Bechtel Corp. that was chosen by the Energy Department on Wednesday to take over management of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico next year.
Lawrence Livermore lab spokeswoman Susan Houghton declined to discuss the case in detail because it strictly involved the contractor and its employees, but said Thursday the lab was not responsible for the incidents in any way.
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Exclusive film screening in San Mateo Read moreA LITTLE FELLOW: THE LEGACY OF A.P.GIANNINI
Mike Caggiano said:
Another super column Annie. I for one (and I'm sure I'm not alone). Hard to believe you've had 100 entries. All the best. MC
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