Aug. 12, 2010
Huntington’s Uranium Processing Plant Has Chemicals Added to Exposure Matrix
Others Under Consideration Also
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Additional toxic substances have been added by the Department of Labor as “under review” for possible use at the former Huntington uranium processing plant (Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction Pilot Plant). Operated on the INCO campus, the Department of Energy facility processed and recycled uranium and nickel from the Oak Ridge and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants, where the materials were used to make atomic weapons.
The Department of Labor has added the following chemicals for “review” in the exposure matrix of former workers: Chlorine, chlorine trifluoride , Technetium, methane tetrachloride, and carbon tetrachloride.
Items already included in the matrix which is used to compute former worker eligibility for work related health illness (cancer) during their time at the plant include asbestos, benzene, chromium, carbon dioxide, Freon, nickel, nickel carbonyl, PCB’s, uranium, and other radioactives. Click here to a chart of the exposure matrix as a PDF.
The HPP/RPP operated in Huntington from about 1952-1962 and 1978-1979. The latter date represents the dismantling of the contaminated structure which was taken by truck and rail to a burial site in the classified section of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (Piketon, Ohio).
The Department of Labor has created an enhanced version website for discerning toxic materials used at 48 of the 116 Energy Department weapons facilities, including uranium mines, mills and buying stations. Visit, http://www.sem.dol.gov.
"I am proud to announce the new and expanded version of the SEM website," said Shelby Hallmark, director of the Labor Department’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. "We have been working with the Department of Energy to make as much of it available to the public as that department felt could be done without risking national security. For this first group of sites, the public now will be able to access online the same type of data our claims examiners use to evaluate possible exposures and causal links to specific illnesses."
The enhanced public version of the SEM website will allow users to more easily identify interrelationships among Department of Energy buildings, work processes, labor categories and exposure to toxic substances.
The Labor Department is always interested in obtaining new information to supplement and enhance the SEM database. Individuals can send information or comments regarding the SEM by completing a form provided on the website, sending an e-mail to info@dol-sem-public.com or writing by regular mail to the Site Exposure Matrices Administrator, P.O. Box 1375, Hilliard, OH 43026-1375.
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Huntington’s Uranium Processing Plant Has Chemicals Added to Exposure Matrix
Others Under Consideration Also
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Additional toxic substances have been added by the Department of Labor as “under review” for possible use at the former Huntington uranium processing plant (Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction Pilot Plant). Operated on the INCO campus, the Department of Energy facility processed and recycled uranium and nickel from the Oak Ridge and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants, where the materials were used to make atomic weapons.
The Department of Labor has added the following chemicals for “review” in the exposure matrix of former workers: Chlorine, chlorine trifluoride , Technetium, methane tetrachloride, and carbon tetrachloride.
Items already included in the matrix which is used to compute former worker eligibility for work related health illness (cancer) during their time at the plant include asbestos, benzene, chromium, carbon dioxide, Freon, nickel, nickel carbonyl, PCB’s, uranium, and other radioactives. Click here to a chart of the exposure matrix as a PDF.
The HPP/RPP operated in Huntington from about 1952-1962 and 1978-1979. The latter date represents the dismantling of the contaminated structure which was taken by truck and rail to a burial site in the classified section of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (Piketon, Ohio).
The Department of Labor has created an enhanced version website for discerning toxic materials used at 48 of the 116 Energy Department weapons facilities, including uranium mines, mills and buying stations. Visit, http://www.sem.dol.gov.
"I am proud to announce the new and expanded version of the SEM website," said Shelby Hallmark, director of the Labor Department’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. "We have been working with the Department of Energy to make as much of it available to the public as that department felt could be done without risking national security. For this first group of sites, the public now will be able to access online the same type of data our claims examiners use to evaluate possible exposures and causal links to specific illnesses."
The enhanced public version of the SEM website will allow users to more easily identify interrelationships among Department of Energy buildings, work processes, labor categories and exposure to toxic substances.
The Labor Department is always interested in obtaining new information to supplement and enhance the SEM database. Individuals can send information or comments regarding the SEM by completing a form provided on the website, sending an e-mail to info@dol-sem-public.com or writing by regular mail to the Site Exposure Matrices Administrator, P.O. Box 1375, Hilliard, OH 43026-1375.
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