Friday, December 10, 1999
New radon test could quantify Fernald risk
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HARRISON — In the hands of a British research team, bits of window glass from the former Fernald uranium processing plant could make clear a longstanding mystery.
Workers could find out, for the first time, how much lung cancer-causing radon gas they inhaled over the years, scientists said at this week's quarterly meeting of the Fernald Health Effects Subcommittee at the Plantation Hall.
A new technology could tell them which buildings contained more radon gas, and how it spread across the site as it leaked from two waste-filled concrete silos. It could indicate the amount that built up over the years since production began in 1953.
It is just one of the many toxins that thousands of workers were exposed to as they toiled to produce the weapons of the Cold War. Many became ill and others died waiting for answers about the effects their jobs had on their health. Still more are being diagnosed as
time goes by.
“We're excited about the possibility of using this technique. ... But we're just starting,” said Susan Pinney, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati, where Fernald worker and resident health problems and risks are being assessed.
She warned that the first tests will not be complete for at least a few more weeks — until then, no one knows whether the technology will work.
But site employees are hopeful.
“When you work in this environment, it's very easy to have a lot of anxieties. And the lack of knowledge, of whether your health has been degraded or not, really causes anxiety,” said Bob Tabor, a Fernald employee of 19 years and a leadership member of the Fernald Atomic Trades and Labor Council.
“Knowing helps put those fears to bed.”
Almost everyone at Fernald can recite the story of a friend or acquaintance who suffered from cancer or some other ailment. Many blame their poor health on exposure to radon gas, uranium dust and toxic chemicals.
Corilla Kelly, 69, lost her husband, Herb, to lung cancer and kidney disease in 1994. He was “a very strong man” who never missed a day of work in 27 years at Fernald — until he got so sick on Nov. 27, 1984, that he left and was never able to work again.
“He used to say to me, "How many of my friends are going to get killed just by working over there?'” Mrs. Kelly recalled. He would have quit had he known of the dangers — but he was never told.
Some employees think the government has delayed health studies to avoid financial liability.
“It's too late for me. But it's not too late for the rest of the people who are over there who are still alive,” Mrs. Kelly said. “It's a shame it didn't happen sooner.”
But other than recent admissions of plutonium exposures at a Paducah, Ky., plant and beryllium sickness at other sites (not including Fernald), the government still has not admitted liability.
At Fernald, a 1998 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said radon gas releases caused an additional 85 lung cancer deaths among people living within 10 kilometers of the site.
Although workers were much closer to the leaking silos and uranium products that also emit radon gas, their health risks have not been studied. Preliminary work is beginning, guided by the Health Effects Subcommittee.
“The problem is not so much that we're not aware that maybe there's a hazard as that we don't know the degree to which the hazard has affected us,” Mr. Tabor said.
That's where the glass comes in.
“This process is very straightforward. It couldn't be simpler,” said James Neton, a health physicist overseeing the project for the CDC and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The tests are being conducted at the University of Bristol in England.
Dr. Neton explained that as radon gas floats around, it decays into tiny particles with an electron charge that causes them to attach to dust or solid surfaces. As they strike glass, about half of those particles become permanently embedded.
A clear, colorless piece of plastic can be specially treated and pressed against the radon-exposed glass. The decayed radon particles leave visible marks on the plastic. Scientists then count the number of marks, using the result to calculate the amount of radon gas that has come into contact with the window.
“It's not a perfect technique, not as precise as we'd like it to be,” but it would provide a far more accurate picture than the incomplete records left from nearly 40 years of production, Dr. Neton said.
The Department of Energy, which owns the site, and its contractors did not realize until 1979 that the silos were leaking dangerous amounts of radon gas. They took steps to stop the leaks, installed monitors on and off site, and are making plans to remove the waste and demolish the silos.
“The government is the one that put this program together to defend the Cold War and they owe us as well as we owed them. We were here, we did those activities for them,” said Bob Schwab, a 31-year employee and president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council. “For all those years they told you there was nothing there to harm you — and then they come forth and you find out. You feel they owe you something also.
“We need to understand it. They need to come forward and let us find out.”
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