Settlement Reached In Case Of Depleted Uranium Worker 
Who Blew The Whistle On Severe Deficiencies At INEEL 

TOM CARPENTER / Government Accountability Project 21nov02

Idaho Falls -- After two days of testimony in the case of INEEL worker Clint Jensen, a settlement was announced today.

Bechtel, the contractor at INEEL, has agreed to restore 270 hours of personal leave to Mr. Jensen that was taken away from him after he complained to the Department of Energy about working conditions at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Additionally, Bechtel agreed to confirm him in the temporary position he currently holds as a Project Planner, and that he be reimbursed all out of his out-of-pocket expenses, travel, and 80 hours of time attending trial and depositions, plus attorney fees.

Mr. Jensen said that he was “very pleased” with the settlement, and that he looks forward to returning to productive status at the site. Tom Carpenter, with the Government Accountability Project which represented Mr. Jensen, stated, “Clint performed a valuable public service by raising important safety and health concerns which resulted in significant improvements in operations at the INEEL site. We are all very glad to put this matter behind us, and for Clint to be able to get on with his life.”

On Tuesday, November 5, Jensen, a depleted uranium worker and INEEL employee of over twenty years took his employer, Bechtel, to court for retaliating against him after he raised concerns about dangerous working conditions and sick co-workers suffering Gulf War Syndrome-like symptoms. After the testimony of seven witnesses, and before the presentation of the defense case, the parties came to an agreement to end the lawsuit.

From 1997 until March of 2001, Clint Jensen worked as a Manufacturing Operator at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory’s (INEEL) Specific Manufacturing Capability (SMC), a classified program which fabricates depleted uranium for lining in the US Army’s Abrams battle tanks. Depleted Uranium (DU) chemically toxic and radioactive nuclear waste and Mr. Jensen’s employer failed to implement many basic safety and industrial hygiene precautions for employees working around DU.

Mr. Jensen’s job included incinerating uranium chips and cutting and boring sheets of uranium metal. The incinerator was home-made and every night Mr. Jensen had to mop and sweep around the oven to remove a black film encircling the oven caused by the leakage during burns.

Mr. Jensen began asking questions of his employer in March 1998. He questioned the pre-mature death of two of his co-workers and why others had left the workplace with symptoms similar to his. He raised concerns that he was exposed to Depleted Uranium and other substances at work that may have caused his own Gulf War Syndrome-like symptoms. He suggested that the Industrial Hygiene program was deficient, that he had been ordered to burn substances other than DU in the oxidation oven – in violation of the oven’s permit, and that his uranium exposure levels soared after he looked down to find himself standing in DU-laden water. He asked the INEEL’s medical staff to get to the root of the problem.

Rather than truly investigating Mr. Jensen’s concerns or compensating him for his illness, his employer attempted to silence him and keep him out of the workplace by referring him to psychiatrists numerous times; increasing his security clearance – effectively gagging him from speaking with his personal physicians about his occupational health concerns; refusing to let him speak with a Department of Energy (DOE) official about his concerns; accusing him of abusing his short term disability and removing 270 hours of personal leave time from him; calling his personal physicians and urging them to keep him offsite; placing excessive restrictions upon him at certain times and denying him use of a respirator at others. "They tried to intimidate me," said Mr. Jensen, "but I stood up for what I believe in. I did it so that they will obey the law and other workers won’t be exposed to the kind of conditions that I was."

Since Mr. Jensen raised his concerns, DOE has conducted an extensive review of the SMC facility and found numerous significant violations. One reviewer and scientist, Dr. Melissa McDiarmid, stated that she observed a "cook-book mentality" of Industrial Hygiene at SMC and that "No truly competent person was identified by me who would have the working knowledge and experience to know what hazards to expect in a new operation." Because of Mr. Jensen’s concerns, the oxidation oven was dismantled, new safety procedures and processes have been implemented, and the organizational structure has changed so that the same personal and is in charge of Industrial Hygiene is also in charge of Occupational Medicine – an inherent conflict of interest.

source: http://www.whistleblower.org/article.php?did=230&scid=99 18apr03