Saturday, October 16, 1999
More changes due at uranium plant
'Corrective actions' linked to DOE report
BY JAMES PRICHARD
The Associated Press
PADUCAH, Ky. — A high-ranking U.S. Department of Energy official who toured the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant on Friday said an investigative report to be released next week will mean more changes for the uranium-pro cessing plant.
“Along with this report we're going to be issuing corrective actions that we will take immediately and in the coming months,” said Carolyn Huntoon, the agency's assistant secretary for environmental management.
Ms. Huntoon, who oversees the Energy Department's
cleanup of the nation's nuclear weapons complex and other DOE sites, also said the government is committed to the cleanup task, “the legacy from the decades of Cold War.”
The DOE-owned plant used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. All of the uranium now processed at the plant is sold to nuclear power plants.
“The Department of Energy is going to stay with this,” she told reporters at the Paducah plant site. “We're going to stay with it closely and we're going to meet our commitments to the people here.”
Allegations probed
In August, the DOE started looking into allegations contained in a workers' sealed federal lawsuit that former plant operators falsified documents regarding the disposal of contaminated waste and records involving environmental contamination at the plant.
A team of 23 agency investigators has inspected the 3,000-acre Paducah site, reviewed documents and interviewed plant workers. The Energy Department issued a report on the team's preliminary findings last month.
The report indicated that while there is room for improvement at the site, there are no serious problems that pose a health or safety risk to current workers or the general public.
The final report from the first phase of the investigation, which covers plant activities since 1990, will be issued sometime next week, Ms. Huntoon said.
She declined to discuss details about the upcoming report, saying she hadn't yet read all of it.
Ms. Huntoon also said more federal cleanup cash is on the way to the plant site. During a recent U.S. Senate field hearing in Paducah, it was estimated that an extra $100 million is needed to meet the DOE's goal of completing cleanup there by 2010.
“There will be some more money spent at Paducah for cleanup,” said Ms. Huntoon, who manages an annual budget of $6 billion. “Exactly how much, I don't know. But that will be done.”
First visit to site
The tour was the first time Ms. Huntoon, who was sworn into office on July 13, had visited the plant. She spoke with employees of the plant operator and cleanup contractor, union officials and Energy Department workers.
“I know the only real way to understand some place is to come see it, come meet the people and see where they work and what's being accomplished,” she said. “Until you come down here and see these scrap yards and until you see "drum mountain' (a giant pile of barrels containing toxic wastes), until you talk to the people here, it's very difficult to really appreciate this challenge that we have.”
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