Nuclear Reactors 43 - Plutonium Accident at Idaho Nuclear Laboratory
I have expressed concerns about the way that the United States Department of Energy has handled accidents and other problems involving nuclear materials. Past blogs have detailed their lack of transparency, dishonesty, incompetence and violations of regulations and laws at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the State of Washington. Today I am going to talk about the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
The Idaho National Laboratory is located near the town of Idaho Falls in Eastern Idaho. This federal research facility was first opened in 1949 to test nuclear reactors. The facility was under the control of the Atomic Energy Commission until 1977. In 1977, when President Carter created the Department of Energy, the facility was named the Idaho National Laboratory. In 1997, the Laboratory was renamed the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory but is still often referred to as the Idaho National Laboratory. Over fifty different experimental reactors have been built and tested at the Laboratory over the years since it was established.
In November of 2011, there was an accident at the Laboratory. Sixteen workers were removing plutonium fuel plates from storage containers and repackaging them. They found a couple of storage containers that had “unusual labels” that suggested that there might be something odd about the plates inside the containers but there was no warning of any danger. They opened the containers found that one of the plutonium plates inside the container had been wrapped in plastic and tape. When they unwrapped the plate, a black powder spilled out. All of them breathed in the black dust and seven of them got the powder on their skin. Testing verified that the black powder was highly toxic plutonium-239. A video camera was operating during the work and recorded all the events leading up to and following the release of the plutonium powder.
The INL announced that “none of the workers suffered adverse health effects” because of the plutonium exposure. However, the INL refused to release the records of the individual radiation exposure for the workers. Two of the workers later filed a law suit saying that they had suffered “symptoms of radiation poisoning including nausea, vomiting, confusion, diarrhea, and high blood pressure, which lasted for months” following the accident.
The INL also claimed that the video tape reveals that the workers had displayed noncompliance with proper procedures and that there were management deficiencies. The INL says that these facts absolve the Laboratory of any responsibility for what happened but they refuse to release the video tape to the lawyers of the workers who filed suit. The INL claims that there are privacy concerns but the plaintiffs lawyers counter that the need to know exactly what happened during the accident out-weight any such privacy concerns. The plaintiffs have filed a Freedom of Information suit to force the Laboratory to surrender the video tape.
This pattern of behavior by the DOE and the INL is all too familiar. The INL claims that no one was injured but there is serious evidence to the contrary. The INL says that the tape shows that the workers were at fault but will not allow anyone to see the tape. There is currently a major push to build new reactors being pushed by the nuclear industry and the U.S. government. However, it is obvious that we cannot trust the U.S. government to protect its citizens and natural environment from nuclear accidents that occur at its facilities and to honestly inform its citizens when accidents occur. And we cannot trust the U.S. government to provide the regulation and oversight necessary for the safe use of nuclear power.
