Irradiated Part 4

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IDAHO FALLS

In his job as a nuclear facil-ity operator in 2011, RalphStanton handled weapons-grade plutonium in street

clothes, sneakers and a labcoat.

Thirty-five years ago, nuclearworkers who did the same jobwore respirators to protectthemselves.

The federal government saysstrict safety standards andrigorous monitoring make nu-clear workers’ jobs much safer

now than they were during theCold War. But don’t tell that toStanton, 50, who was unwrap-ping plastic and duct tape cov-ering a plutonium researchreactor fuel plate under a fumehood on Nov. 8, 2011, whenblack powder trickled out.

Stanton knew immediatelythat radioactive plutoniumoxide was airborne.

“When you see powder,”Stanton recalled later, “you’retoast.”

Stanton and 15 other workerswere exposed that day at theIdaho National Laboratory, an890-square-mile Departmentof Energy research and storagesite 27 miles west of IdahoFalls.

They are among more than186,000 nuclear workersacross the country who’ve beenexposed to recordable levels of

radiation on the job since 2001,according to an analysis ofDepartment of Energy data byMcClatchy.

Eight of those workers re-ceived doses that exceeded theDepartment of Energy’s admin-istrative threshold for triggeringmandatory investigations. Andfour received doses that ex-ceeded the DOE’s regulatorylimit.

Battelle Energy Alliance, theDepartment of Energy’s maincontractor for the lab, eventu-

ally pegged the radiation doseStanton had received at just 2 percent of the limit for nucle-ar workers.

But after poring over medicaldocuments, the DOE investiga-tion and other records, Stantonbelieves he has proof that thedose drastically underestimateshis level of exposure.

He worries that it’s just amatter of time until the plutoni-um and americium he ingestedgive him cancer.

And Stanton fears that when

IRRADIATED, LAST OF 4 PARTS: A SPECIAL REPORT ON NUCLEAR WORKERS

Contaminated,sick and angry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An INL worker exposed to plutonium, americium tells his story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Accidents happen even though safety standards have tightened. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Are contamination doses measured accurately?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BY LINDSAY WISE, ROCKY BARKER

AND SAMANTHA EHLINGER

Statesman Washington Bureau

OTTO KITSINGER MCT

Ralph and Jodi Stanton, at their home in Idaho Falls last month, have spent much time worrying about the consequences of an accident atthe Idaho National Laboratory in November 2011, when Ralph was exposed to alpha radiation-emitting americium and plutonium.

VIDEO

Ralph Stanton discusses the accident

IdahoStatesman.com

MORE INSIDE

A look at Idaho National Laboratory and

its history NEWS, 4A

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Read “Irradiated”

Link to the database and fullmultimedia report atIdahoStatesman.com.

SUNDAY Winning the Cold Warand developing nuclear powerlikely caused or contributed tothe deaths of more than 15,000workers, the government said,including 396 at INL.

MONDAY Lack of records makesit hard to prove illnesses arecaused by their job.

TUESDAY Federal governmentpares health care benefits andretirement for workers as itseeks to build a new generationof nuclear weapons.

TODAY Nuclear work is saferthan in the Cold War era, but thethreat of illness still exists.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘‘WHAT HAPPENS IN 15YEARS WHEN I GETBONE CANCER, ORSOMETHING ELSE? IDON’T GET ANY HELP.I DON’T GETWORKMAN’S COMP. IDON’T GET NOTHING.

Ralph Stanton, INL worker

SEE NUCLEAR, 4A

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radiation and other toxinson the job.

It’s a fear shared bymany workers involved intoday’s ongoing nuclearresearch, weapons pro-duction and cleanup ef-forts across the country:

that day comes, he won’tbe able to prove his eligi-bility for compensationfrom a federal fund set upin 2001 to recompensethe nation’s nuclear work-ers for illnesses likelycaused by exposure to

that inadequate samplingand secrecy surroundingaccidents could leavethem without the proofthey will one day need.

RADIOACTIVE LEAKSAND TOXIC VAPORS

During the early days ofthe Manhattan Projectand later during the fran-tic arms race of the ColdWar, officials oftenchalked up contamination

of nuclear workers asnecessary sacrifices fornational security.

Since then, safety stan-dards have tighteneddramatically. And yetaccidents persist.

Among the accidentsthat exposed workers toradiation and toxic chem-icals in recent years:

A On June 14, 2010, aworker at the SavannahRiver Site in South Car-olina was sorting radio-active waste when a wirepierced his right hand.Based on the estimateddose, the site’s contractor,Savannah River NuclearServices, predicted noeffect on the length orquality of the employee’slife.

A followup investiga-tion by the Department ofEnergy identified fourviolations of radiationprotection and nuclearsafety regulations.

A On Feb. 14, 2014, a55-gallon drum rupturedat the Waste IsolationPilot Plant in New Mex-ico, where workers burynuclear weapons waste inan ancient undergroundsalt bed.

Twenty-two workerswere exposed to low lev-els of americium andplutonium, although someof them weren’t told theyhad been contaminateduntil more than six weeksafter the accident.

A From March 2014through September 2015,at least 71 workers at theHanford Site in Washing-

ton state received medicalexams after being in areaswhere vapors from chem-ical waste were suspected.Many smelled odors orexperienced symptomssuch as headaches, nau-sea, coughing, nosebleedsand dizziness.

In September, the stateof Washington filed alawsuit over the vapors,seeking better protectionfor workers from the fed-eral government.

‘EYES ON, HANDS OFF’Investigations into

today’s accidents oftenfind that contractors haverushed work or cut cor-ners — not to end a worldwar or to outmaneuverthe Russians, but to savemoney or earn bonuses.

Complacency also con-tributes to what the Gov-ernment AccountabilityOffice has described as“persistent safety prob-lems, stemming largelyfrom long-standing man-agement weaknesses.”

A 2013 GAO reportslammed the contractorswho run the Departmentof Energy’s nuclear facil-ities for “lax attitudestoward safety proce-dures.”

In one near-miss in-

cident in January 2014,small vials containingabout 20 grams of weap-ons-grade uranium almostleft Tennessee’s Y-12National Security Com-plex in a laundry truck. Aworker had forgottenthem in a coverall pocket.

Government watchdogssay such fiascoes sendtroubling signals that theDOE has rolled back cen-tralized oversight too far,as contractors lobby formore authority to policethemselves — an approachthat they refer to as “eyeson, hands off.”

“The real issue is theylowball their initial bidsand every DOE site hassome necessary project,some infrastructure pro-ject, that’s experiencingmassive cost overruns, soI think there’s some in-tense pressure to cut cor-ners and it’s having pre-dictable results,” saidEdwin Lyman, a seniorscientist with the Union ofConcerned Scientists’Global Security Program.

The Department of

FROM PAGE 1A

NUCLEAR11 OF 61Number of workers whobegan working at INL after1995 who receivedcompensation

7 OF 41Number of workers whobegan at INL after 2001,when the Energy EmployeesOccupational IllnessCompensation ProgramAct passed, and receivedcompensation

SEE NUCLEAR, 5A

IDAHO FALLS

The Idaho NationalLaboratory is where thenuclear power industrywas born in 1949.

Todd Allen, INL Science& Technology DeputyDirector, said INL and theDepartment of Energyhave invested $500 mil-lion in capital expendi-tures to merge the nuclearresearch mission underone lab.

Since 2005, the maincontractor, Battelle EnergyAlliance, which calls itselfthe Idaho National Lab-oratory, has refocused thework of the site on itshistoric mission: nuclearenergy research. Its sellingpoint is that the existingnuclear facilities — in-cluding test reactors thatcan replicate the long-term effects of radiationon materials and replicateaccident conditions —make it the only researchsite where the full nuclearcycle can be studied in oneplace.

Workers live mostly inIdaho Falls and take busesto the site, a secure areawith its own contract secu-rity force. In addition tonuclear research, INLscientists work on cyberse-curity. Others work for thePentagon, where INLnuclear and security ex-pertise is valued.

Private nuclear compa-nies such as TerraPower,founded and chaired byBill Gates, have agree-ments for INL scientists towork on TerraPower’sadvanced nuclear reactordesigns and to test their

fuels. Gates visited in2013.

The lab has 579 build-ings, three reactors, 111miles of transmissionlines, 177 miles of pavedroads, 14 miles of railroadtracks, and its own bussystem and security force.Many of the lab’s newestbuildings are in IdahoFalls. In many ways, INLis like its own city.

“We have hand-in-handcapability to do nuclearresearch, but we also haveour own electrical grid,”Allen said. “We have arunning wireless (securitytesting) facility. We runour own mass transit sys-tem.”

NUCLEAR ENERGY,NUCLEAR SUBS

The 890-square-mileDepartment of Energysite, 27 miles west of Ida-ho Falls, was where thefirst usable amount ofelectricity was generatedby nuclear power — in1951, at ExperimentalBreeder Reactor 1. Soonafter, another reactorproduced enough power tolight the nearby town of

Arco.Before the atomic ener-

gy commission came in1949, the U.S. Navy usedthe area as a site to test16-inch naval guns manu-factured in Pocatello.Later, Admiral HymanRickover — who oversawthe nuclear Navy — builtthe first prototype of theNautilus nuclear sub-marine there, along with achemical processing plantto recycle nuclear fuelfrom submarines andother government reac-tors. Engineers also built areactor designed to power

aircraft, a project that wasscrapped by PresidentJohn F. Kennedy when theradioactive materials re-leased from its test couldbe measured as far awayas Michigan.

Eventually, 52 reactorswere built on the site,which is the size of Lux-embourg and located inthe Idaho desert far frompopulation centers. Todayjust three reactors operate.

The first generation ofreactors in the 1950s and’60s was used in the origi-nal research for the light-water reactors that are still

in service today aroundthe world. ExperimentalBreeder Reactor II, a dif-ferent design that usesmetal fuel and producesmore fuel than it burns,was built in 1964. Afterseveral design changes, itwas reborn as the IntegralFast Reactor, a breederthat could shut itself offand cool down even ifabandoned or struck by adisaster.

The Clinton adminis-tration ended the projectin 1994 and EBR II wasshut down. It is still beingdecommissioned. But itssupport facilities remain asa part of INL’s continuedefforts to develop newgenerations of nuclearpower reactors.

The Department ofEnergy manages andstores 300 tons of spentnuclear fuel rods at INLfrom Navy and govern-ment reactors, includingthe melted core of theThree Mile Island reactor.It also has decommis-sioned more than 200contaminated structures.

RADIATION, WASTE,CYBERSECURITY

Over the years, INL hashad several notable nucle-ar material releases inaddition to the 1960snuclear jet engine test. Inthe 1950s, large amountsof radioactive fission prod-ucts were released fromthe chemical plant thatwas recycling highly radio-active fuel to obtain theisotope lanthanum.

A steam explosion in theStationary Low PowerReactor No. 1 in 1961killed three operators. Oneof them had pulled fromthe reactor the control rodthat slows the nuclear

reaction. Dozens of work-ers were contaminated inthe effort to remove theinjured workers who laterdied. That remains theonly reactor accident inthe U.S. that caused animmediate fatality.

The INL became awaste storage facility forlow-level and long-livednuclear contaminatedmaterial from the RockyFlats Plant in Colorado,which made plutoniumbombs and triggers forhydrogen weapons. Thou-sands of barrels of glovesand clothes contaminatedwith plutonium and amer-icium were dumped hap-hazardly at the INL site;contaminated waterflowed into the aquiferbelow. Liquid waste fromother facilities also waspumped into the aquifer.

When the Cold Warended in the early 1990s,the Department of Energysigned a number of agree-ments with the U.S. Envi-ronmental ProtectionAgency and the state ofIdaho promising to cleanup past contamination atthe site. Billions of dollarshave been spent to process9 million gallons of high-level liquid waste and toprocess and repackagecontaminated material.

Beyond its nuclear work,INL has become a leaderin cybersecurity and hasthe capability to test large-scale energy strategies.

Rocky Barker:208-377-6484,@RockyBarker

IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

Lab returns to nuclearpower research roots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Billions have been spenton nuclear waste cleanup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INL is essentially a smallcity, with its own transitand security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BY ROCKY BARKER

[email protected]

CHAD ESTES McClatchy

Researchers can plot a new transmission route over various terrains, open a valve ordelve into the core of a nuclear reactor in the four-panel projector called “The Cave”in the Center for Advanced Energy Studies in Idaho Falls.

.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INL’s economic impact?

INL created more than 24,000 Idaho jobs and generated$3.5 billion in economic impact in 2010, according toBoise State University economists. It then had more than8,000 people directly working for the government or itscontractors, and an additional 16,133 people had jobs dueto the multiplier effect of INL being there. Recenteconomic reports have included only the lab side, notthe cleanup side, and they show about 3,900 peopleworking there today at an average pay of $87,500 and aneconomic output of about $1.4 billion. The overallnumber is likely similar to the 2010 numbers, but slightlydown due to federal budget cuts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘‘IF I WAS TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER IN ASINGLE TAGLINE, I WOULD SAY WELOOK LIKE A WELL-CHARACTERIZEDCITY OR REGION CONFIGURED TO DOENERGY OR SECURITY RESEARCH ATSCALE.

Todd Allen, Idaho National Laboratory Science &Technology Deputy Lab Director

VIDEO

INL’s deputy director outlines

research plans

IdahoStatesman.com

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 16 2015 5ANewsIDAHOSTATESMAN.COM

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Energy relies more heavi-ly on contractors than anyother civilian federalagency. Ninety percent ofthe DOE’s budget is spenton contracts and largecapital asset projects,according to the GAO.But the Energy Depart-ment has a track record ofinadequate managementof its contracts, whichhave been listed by theGAO as an area at highrisk for fraud, waste andmismanagement since1990.

The DOE says its over-all safety record is verygood.

“However, given thecomplexity and the natureof the work being per-formed across the depart-ment, events will occur,”Bartlett Jackson, the de-partment’s spokesman,said in a statement. Hesaid the agency workscontinually to improve thesafety performance of allits contractors and work-ers.

LACK OF TRUST

Government officialsand the contractors thatrun the nuclear facilitiesoften tell workers in-volved in recent accidentsthat their exposures won’tharm them.

But many, like Stanton,worry that their doses

aren’t being measuredaccurately, and that thehealth risks they face aredownplayed by the con-tractors, who could facefines or be forced to haltwork for costly safetyreviews.

From a review of con-tractor misconduct cases,it’s clear that falsificationof radiation records doessometimes happen.

Earlier this year, forexample, the Departmentof Energy imposed a$243,750 fine on the con-tractor in charge of thePortsmouth GaseousDiffusion Plant in Pike-ton, Ohio, for the “willfulfalsification” of radiationprotection records in April2013.

In a similar case, theDepartment of Energyfined contractor Westin-ghouse Savannah RiverCompany $206,250 forfalsifying the dose recordsof workers exposed toradiation at SavannahRiver Site in South Car-olina in July 2003.

When Stanton pressedfor copies of records fromhis own accident, he saysBattelle stonewalled him.

Weeks went by. He wasstill waiting in January2012 when the EnergyDepartment’s report onthe accident came out.Based on preliminary

information, the reportpredicted that workers’intake of radiation couldbe as high as five timesthe annual limit.

It also revealed that hisfirst urine samples hadnot been properly ana-lyzed because of whatBattelle officials de-scribed as a miscommuni-cation.

Perhaps most infuriat-ing of all, Stanton discov-ered that the lab’s seniormanagement had beenwarned in a memo in2009, and again fivemonths before the acci-dent, that damaged pluto-nium fuel plates stored atthe reactor test facilitywhere he worked couldcause the kind of expo-sure that ended up hap-pening to him and hiscolleagues.

In the memo, the chair-man of an independentsafety review committeesaid he’d been involved ina similar accident decadesbefore, but he and hiscolleagues had been wear-ing respirators. He recom-mended safety proceduresthat management failedto implement.

Finally, 10 months afterthe accident, lab officialscalled Stanton in and toldhim his total dose for2011 was just a fraction ofthe radiation the federalgovernment allows nucle-ar workers to absorb in ayear.

But Stanton says hiselectronic dosimeter hadregistered a higher annualtotal when he’d loggedinto a computer to startwork the day of the acci-dent. He didn’t under-stand how the total couldhave gone down afterbeing exposed — unlesssomeone had falsified therecords.

The more Stanton de-manded answers, themore trouble he got intoat work. He began to bewritten up for all kinds ofthings, including work-place violence, which hesaid was based on a com-ment someone next tohim said, body languageand putting his feet on hisdesk.

He was fired two daysbefore Christmas in 2013.

Stanton filed a lawsuitagainst Battelle for whis-tleblower retaliation. Twoother workers also sued,seeking to determine theirtrue doses from the acci-dent.

Officials at the lab saidthey could not commenton pending litigation.

Even four years afterhis accident, Stanton stilltalks in a voice taut withanger that such disregardfor safety could exist, longafter the Cold War ended.And after so many of hisfellow nuclear workershave sickened and died.

“I just remember thebetrayal of this,” he said,“that these people —these managers — couldactually know about adeadly hazard and not tellus.”

Rocky Barker:208-377-6484,@RockyBarkerThe Investigative Fund ofThe Nation Institute, anonprofit media centerbased in New York, helpedsupport this project.

OTTO KITSINGER MCT

Ralph Stanton goes over some of his medical paperwork and evidence of hiscontamination at his home in Idaho Falls.

Sources: McClatchy Washington Bureau,

U.S. Department of Energy

Robert Dorrell

GraphFix Lab

Sites related to U.S. nuclear weapons technology

Nuclear weapons infrastructure

24

13

5

110

14

118

6

3

9

7

12

1. Kansas City Plant/ National Security Campus Kansas City, Mo. 2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, Calif. 3. Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, N.M. 4. Nevada Test Site Mercury, Nev. 5. Pantex Plant Amarillo, Texas 6. Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, N.M. 7. Savannah River Site Aiken, S.C. 8. Y-12 Plant Oak Ridge, Tenn. 9. Feed Materials Production Center (FMPC) Fernald, Ohio 10. Mound Plant Miamisburg, Ohio 11. Paducah Gaseous Di!usion Plant Paducah, Ky. 12. Portsmouth Gaseous Di!usion Plant Piketon, Ohio 13. Rocky Flats Plant Golden, Colo. 14. West Valley Demonstration Project West Valley, N.Y.

NameSite Location

Sites still operating

Inactive sites (being closed down)

FROM PAGE 4A

NUCLEAR

Provided by Idaho National Laboratory

The LOFT reactor at INL gained national recognitionwhen it was used to simulate the accident atPennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.