BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CROSBY TOWNSHIP -- Fernald workers may not have realized it as they began processing uranium 45 years ago, but they were also making history.
They toiled at one of the nation's most secretive and potentially dangerous sites. Many lived nearby, exposing themselves to unknown health risks. They did it because they needed the jobs, and in the name of the Cold War.
Over the years, Fernald workers and neighbors tore back the curtain of secrecy and demanded answers. They welcomed an era of openness and a cleanup by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is still going on.
So now their efforts are being recorded by local historians who realize the significance of Fernald.
Through the Living History Project, a grass-roots, volunteer panel is splicing together a short video from recent interviews with five Fernald workers and area residents. They will use it to promote the project and entice others to be interviewed on tape. "As a hobby I'm a genealogist, so I know how hard it is to recreate the history of an event in the past if it hasn't been documented from personal experience," said Jim Innis, who represents the Crosby Township Historical Society on the project panel.
"It must be all sides of the story, so that the future can evaluate what really happened here."
The project is being coordinated through the University of Cincinnati's Center for Environmental Communication Studies, with help from Miami University.
Fluor Daniel Fernald, the site cleanup manager, is donating the use of its audio-visual equipment and the expertise of some employees. The Department of Energy is helping.
But the Living History Project began and will end with the people. "It's a personal passion, not a technical issue," said Fluor Daniel Fernald spokeswoman Tricia Thompson. "People are committed to this. They're willing to donate their time and effort. That's how we know it's important."
To Mr. Innis, the project is a way to turn the negative impacts of Fernald into a positive legacy.
"It created a stigma for our neighborhood, because of the various releases of pollution and the concern that people have for their general welfare within the shadow of this plant . . . . I'm quite certain there are still people who are nervous about being anywhere near Fernald," he said.
But he and others propose building a museum on the Fernald site, once it is completely cleaned up in about 2008. They would like to include the Living History as an interactive display, to accompany the technical manuals, photographs and official archives.
"They're looking into the social history of Fernald. Records are great, and they're obviously very important. But I think it's also very important to capture the institutional knowledge of the people who were here," said DOE spokesman Gary Stegner.
So far, project members have taped interviews with one current worker, two residents, one man whose land was taken by the government when Fernald was built, and two retirees who live nearby.
"This will include the whole story, be it positive or negative, from every vantage point," said Ms. Thompson.
