Plutonium Leak Contaminates Two Los Alamos Lab Employees:
No Possibility of Public Exposure to Leak, Lab Says

PAUL THORNTON / Daily Californian 12aug03

A routine inventory check at UC-managed Los Alamos National Laboratory Thursday ended up with two employees contaminated by plutonium, the lab announced Friday.

The two workers were conducting an inventory check of older plutonium cans stored at the lab's Plutonium Processing Facility at Technical Area 55.

After finishing their inventory checks of two shelves holding cans of plutonium, the workers moved on to the third, during which an air monitor alarm sounded.

Lab officials do not know exactly what caused the plutonium leak. The two contaminated employees did not notice any leaks in the cans they were inspecting.

The employees were placed on precautionary bioassay following the contamination discovery, which means they will have to give waste samples daily for as long as several months.

The incident is not a matter of a security lapse, said lab spokesperson Jim Danneskiold.

The employees immediately left the room and were assisted by radiation control technicians, who helped them remove their protective clothing.

Lab workers discovered that one employee was contaminated with plutonium on the neck, head, shoulders and arms. The second employee was contaminated on his head.

Both showed signs of nasal contamination, suggesting the grim possibility that they may have inhaled plutonium.

The employees' bioassay tests will show whether plutonium actually entered their bodies.

The U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees the lab, is investigating the incident.

"(Most importantly), we want to know, why did this happen?" said Bryan Wilkes, a U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration spokesperson.

Since the investigation is in its infancy, exactly where the Department of Energy's findings could lead is unknown, Wilkes said.

Both employees returned to work in nonradiation areas. The lab said that there is no possibility of public exposure to plutonium as a result of the incident.

Although the employees show no signs of immediate health risks, developing cancer several years from now is a concern, Danneskiold said.

source: http://www.dailycal.org/article.asp?id=12347 15aug03