Aug. 27, 2010
Yes, Workers Did Atomic Weapons Related Work in Huntington
Area Should Be Re-Tested Under 21st Century Standards
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter; ©2010 BY Tony Rutherford & HNN
Huntington, WV (HNN) – After examining hundreds of pages of CDC transcripts, news clippings, interviewing retirees, and scanning on-line files of enough government agencies to list a page of acronyms, HNN now officially disputes the 1987 Elimination Recommendation [from potential hazardous/potential Superfund sites] and a December 14, 1994 letter from James W. Waggoner II, director Office of Environmental Restoration.
The letter stated:
“DOE performed a radiological survey [in 1981 and 1987] at the former Reduction Pilot Plant site and we are pleased to reaffirm our determination that conditions at this site meet applicable requirements for protection of the public health , safety and environment. We have concluded that additional investigations of this site are unnecessary.”
CLICK to download: LETTER TO JEAN DEAN
As a cloaked and shrouded piece of Cold War history, many references to Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction Pilot Plant which operated from 1951-1962 and 1978-1979 (for dismantling), simply state activities at the location were nickel related. Others, offer a veiled glimpse of a facility where radioactive materials were dipped into pits , burned, and separated for recycling creating radioactive dust and fog that would regularly be discharged into the air after midnight. The finished products were shipped under the watchful eyes of FBI/Secret Service to Tennessee.
A chance “hit” from the Federal Register (Vol. 66, Num. 11) provided the double classification of the plant: AWE/DOE. Translation --- Atomic weapons employer; Department of Energy.
These facilities by definition processed or produced for the use by the United States , material that emitted radiation and was used in the production of an atomic weapon (excluding uranium mining and milling). “For the purpose of this notice [in the Federal Register] only those facilities [are listed] whose work involved radioactive material that was connected to the weapons production chain.”
As for the Department of Energy (DOE) definition, it states that such a facility is “any building, structure, or premise, including the grounds upon which such building, structure, or premise is located (A) in which operations are, or have been, conducted by, or on behalf of, the Department of Energy (except for buildings, structures, premises, grounds, or operations covered by Executive Order 12344, pertaining to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The list includes any facility handling radioactive materials or beryllium in which the Department had management and operations, management and integration, environmental remediation, or construction and maintenance contracts.”
(Editor’s Note: The 2001 Federal Register lists Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants as DOE facilities, not both DOE and Atomic Weapons Employer.)
Based on the evaluation notes of “C. Young” from November 18, 1987, Young found “no radioactive [materials] handled” and a “small quantity” of “plutonium sludge appears to be only radioactive [material] handled.”
Young’s elimination recommendation was based on “limited duration of operation,” “small quantity of materials handled,” and stated as “unknown” whether the facility was licensed by the Atomic Energy Commission. The decision was based on “very little” quantity of records and “low” probability of finding additional records.”
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD YOUNG’S NO RADIOACTIVES NOTES IN PDF
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD 1981 DOE RADIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT (34 PAGES)
Although this assessment concluded little radioactive activities, why was it necessary to disassemble and bury the contents of the plant in ditches under the cover of darkness in a ‘classified’ section of the Portsmouth Diffusion Plant (Piketon, Ohio) grounds in 1978-79?
In fact, a May 18, 2007 Battelle Team Dose Reconstruction for Jessup Steel Company profiles “atomic weapons employers that worked uranium and thorium metals.”
Jessop Steel “sheared an unknown number of uranium plates for DuPont on March 2, 1954” and “was interested in rolling uranium metal for Fernald billet production.” In December 1952 “it appears that Jessop processed between two and three tons of uranium contaminated nickel scrap” for Fernald.
Since no documentation on worker exposure existed for Jessop Steel, Battelle relied upon dose reconstructions for the Huntington Pilot Plant which did “similar work.”
“We have based exposure levels [at Jessop] on data taken from the Huntington Pilot Plant which processed over two million pounds annually (or nearly 85 tons/month).” http://198.246.98.21/niosh/ocas/pdfs/tbd/b-6000-apbl-r0.pdf
Yet, Mr. Young described the same facility in the following manner in his 1987 handwritten evaluation: “Contractor developed procedure/process for nickel plating uranium sludge --- no indication that significant quantities of uranium metal were involved in the operation. During the 1940’s , contractor produced large quantities of nickel power for sale to mfr.”
WHITE POWDER
The plant in Huntington was an intermediate point in the weapons process. Contaminated materials were dropped by rail from various gaseous diffusion plants for “recycling,” then escorted back to Oak Ridge under armed FBI or Secret Service agents.
Sending already radioactive materials through the Huntington plant separated the nickel, the uranium and some plutonium, neptunium and technetium too.
STEP BY STEP
A former inspector/ worker at Paducah stated, “You know that these DOE plans ran re-cycled low enriched uranium from Hanford’s reactors. That means that these Hanford return materials had isotopes like Tc-99 and even Pu-239 which were entrained in the barrier materials. This came back to INCO to make a new nickel power using the nickel carbonyl process and from that new barriers by the sintering process in molds.”
He explained that fluoride contamination occurs from trapped uranium and with heating “the barrier nickel returns from DOE’s gas diffusion plants there were a lot of toxic fluoride exposures. HF tends to come off this process and that is extremely cumulative via skin and breathing and low exposures cause long term illness similar to that seen in K-25 gas diffusion workers.”
“After the initial tear down and shredding of scrap materials (so it would fit in drums), more studies were conducted on how the material, that now resembled fingernail-sized potato chips, could be melted and, hopefully, sold. It was found from numerous tests that although the raw nickel chips contained plutonium and significant amounts of neptunium, technetium, uranium and thorium; only technetium was found at high levels in the ingots. So, anyone with sense would ask, where did the other contaminants go,” the former inspector wrote?
“Pre-smelting tests showed that the more toxic and radioactive materials were concentrated in slag that formed at the top of the melt with lesser quantities adhering to the liner of the melting unit. The slag and most furnace liners were buried in unlined pits in the classified landfill. Oh, I should have mentioned, much of the scrap (from Portsmouth and Oak Ridge) would have been contaminated with enriched uranium. Placing the somewhat porous slag where it would be exposed to ground water would have resulted in leaching of contamination at a minimum (I will leave it for those of you with a background in radiation to imagine other potential concerns).”
The HPP/RPP shut down in 1962 and remained on “stand by.”
Then, came a radiation survey of the facility. It took from 1975 to 1978-1979 for the plant to be removed:
“Based upon the radiation survey, the presence or potential presence of classified material, and the potential presence of nickel carbonyl, it was decided that the process equipment and piping were unsuitable for conventional disposal and consequently scheduled for disposal in the classified burial ground at the Portsmouth , Ohio, Gaseous Diffusion plant.” The memo continued that the residue unloading system , building walls, floors, and structural members were also slightly contaminated and contained classified material.
After removal, elevated ground surface radiation levels spiked in at least three spots , according to a 1980 radiological survey.
SOME WORKERS AND SURVIVORS PAID
Although it depended upon their location in the weapons plant and the amount of time spent there, the federal government has by its own admission paid about $5 million dollars in compensation to former workers and their survivors.
The classified nuts, bolts, and transportation gear remain sealed in Piketon. There have been reports of radioactive waters leaking from the classified area. However, the contaminated discharges have been stabilized.
BRING OUT A GEIGER COUNTER…
Some of what you have read may seem a re-stating of previous material. Actually, we cannot deny that; however, we have been informed by retirees from the plant that one judge will not grant them compensation because no documentation exists that they handled radioactive materials. In fact, after two Oak Ridge University residual radiation studies (a follow up done due to hot areas), the location was released.
What remains in Huntington --- a concrete floor of the former HPP/RPP which is buried in Piketon and a separate building now used for waste water treatment.
Yet, to arrive at these conclusions, inner governmental agency memorandums , often contradict each other. For this reason, yes, judge, they handled the heavy duty atomic weapons making materials there , and, the “evaluation” that led to the site’s “determination that conditions meet applicable requirements for protection of public health, safety and the environment.”
Instead, of concluding “additional investigations are unnecessary,” the convoluted non-pooled reports actually strongly affirm that with the new scientific instruments of the 21st Century, the site should be tested again to ensure that the place where bomb components were that have half-lives in five or six digits should be reassessed with the knowledge of what actually occurred in the 50s and 60s.
PREVIOUS STORIES:
For Federal Register, click: http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2001-01-17-01-1329; WV................................. Huntington Pilot Plant..... Huntington............ AWE/DOE ;
For earlier story and radiological survey: http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100505-rutherford-localpilotplant.html
For Starting Materials at the plant, http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100211-rutherford-localcoldwar.html
From a former worker: http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091203-rutherford-localinformant.html
NIOSH RESPONSE: >http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100219-rutherford-localnioshresponds.html
RESIDENTS, WORKERS VICTIMS, http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091126-rutherford-localradiation.html
ALTIZER/COLE STREETS HAD MANHATTAN PROJECT NEIGHBOR: http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100210-rutherford-localnioshdocuments.html
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
Yes, Workers Did Atomic Weapons Related Work in Huntington
Area Should Be Re-Tested Under 21st Century Standards
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter; ©2010 BY Tony Rutherford & HNN
Huntington, WV (HNN) – After examining hundreds of pages of CDC transcripts, news clippings, interviewing retirees, and scanning on-line files of enough government agencies to list a page of acronyms, HNN now officially disputes the 1987 Elimination Recommendation [from potential hazardous/potential Superfund sites] and a December 14, 1994 letter from James W. Waggoner II, director Office of Environmental Restoration.
The letter stated:
“DOE performed a radiological survey [in 1981 and 1987] at the former Reduction Pilot Plant site and we are pleased to reaffirm our determination that conditions at this site meet applicable requirements for protection of the public health , safety and environment. We have concluded that additional investigations of this site are unnecessary.”
CLICK to download: LETTER TO JEAN DEAN
As a cloaked and shrouded piece of Cold War history, many references to Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction Pilot Plant which operated from 1951-1962 and 1978-1979 (for dismantling), simply state activities at the location were nickel related. Others, offer a veiled glimpse of a facility where radioactive materials were dipped into pits , burned, and separated for recycling creating radioactive dust and fog that would regularly be discharged into the air after midnight. The finished products were shipped under the watchful eyes of FBI/Secret Service to Tennessee.
A chance “hit” from the Federal Register (Vol. 66, Num. 11) provided the double classification of the plant: AWE/DOE. Translation --- Atomic weapons employer; Department of Energy.
These facilities by definition processed or produced for the use by the United States , material that emitted radiation and was used in the production of an atomic weapon (excluding uranium mining and milling). “For the purpose of this notice [in the Federal Register] only those facilities [are listed] whose work involved radioactive material that was connected to the weapons production chain.”
As for the Department of Energy (DOE) definition, it states that such a facility is “any building, structure, or premise, including the grounds upon which such building, structure, or premise is located (A) in which operations are, or have been, conducted by, or on behalf of, the Department of Energy (except for buildings, structures, premises, grounds, or operations covered by Executive Order 12344, pertaining to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The list includes any facility handling radioactive materials or beryllium in which the Department had management and operations, management and integration, environmental remediation, or construction and maintenance contracts.”
(Editor’s Note: The 2001 Federal Register lists Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants as DOE facilities, not both DOE and Atomic Weapons Employer.)
Based on the evaluation notes of “C. Young” from November 18, 1987, Young found “no radioactive [materials] handled” and a “small quantity” of “plutonium sludge appears to be only radioactive [material] handled.”
Young’s elimination recommendation was based on “limited duration of operation,” “small quantity of materials handled,” and stated as “unknown” whether the facility was licensed by the Atomic Energy Commission. The decision was based on “very little” quantity of records and “low” probability of finding additional records.”
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD YOUNG’S NO RADIOACTIVES NOTES IN PDF
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD 1981 DOE RADIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT (34 PAGES)
Although this assessment concluded little radioactive activities, why was it necessary to disassemble and bury the contents of the plant in ditches under the cover of darkness in a ‘classified’ section of the Portsmouth Diffusion Plant (Piketon, Ohio) grounds in 1978-79?
In fact, a May 18, 2007 Battelle Team Dose Reconstruction for Jessup Steel Company profiles “atomic weapons employers that worked uranium and thorium metals.”
Jessop Steel “sheared an unknown number of uranium plates for DuPont on March 2, 1954” and “was interested in rolling uranium metal for Fernald billet production.” In December 1952 “it appears that Jessop processed between two and three tons of uranium contaminated nickel scrap” for Fernald.
Since no documentation on worker exposure existed for Jessop Steel, Battelle relied upon dose reconstructions for the Huntington Pilot Plant which did “similar work.”
“We have based exposure levels [at Jessop] on data taken from the Huntington Pilot Plant which processed over two million pounds annually (or nearly 85 tons/month).” http://198.246.98.21/niosh/ocas/pdfs/tbd/b-6000-apbl-r0.pdf
Yet, Mr. Young described the same facility in the following manner in his 1987 handwritten evaluation: “Contractor developed procedure/process for nickel plating uranium sludge --- no indication that significant quantities of uranium metal were involved in the operation. During the 1940’s , contractor produced large quantities of nickel power for sale to mfr.”
WHITE POWDER
The plant in Huntington was an intermediate point in the weapons process. Contaminated materials were dropped by rail from various gaseous diffusion plants for “recycling,” then escorted back to Oak Ridge under armed FBI or Secret Service agents.
Sending already radioactive materials through the Huntington plant separated the nickel, the uranium and some plutonium, neptunium and technetium too.
STEP BY STEP
A former inspector/ worker at Paducah stated, “You know that these DOE plans ran re-cycled low enriched uranium from Hanford’s reactors. That means that these Hanford return materials had isotopes like Tc-99 and even Pu-239 which were entrained in the barrier materials. This came back to INCO to make a new nickel power using the nickel carbonyl process and from that new barriers by the sintering process in molds.”
He explained that fluoride contamination occurs from trapped uranium and with heating “the barrier nickel returns from DOE’s gas diffusion plants there were a lot of toxic fluoride exposures. HF tends to come off this process and that is extremely cumulative via skin and breathing and low exposures cause long term illness similar to that seen in K-25 gas diffusion workers.”
“After the initial tear down and shredding of scrap materials (so it would fit in drums), more studies were conducted on how the material, that now resembled fingernail-sized potato chips, could be melted and, hopefully, sold. It was found from numerous tests that although the raw nickel chips contained plutonium and significant amounts of neptunium, technetium, uranium and thorium; only technetium was found at high levels in the ingots. So, anyone with sense would ask, where did the other contaminants go,” the former inspector wrote?
“Pre-smelting tests showed that the more toxic and radioactive materials were concentrated in slag that formed at the top of the melt with lesser quantities adhering to the liner of the melting unit. The slag and most furnace liners were buried in unlined pits in the classified landfill. Oh, I should have mentioned, much of the scrap (from Portsmouth and Oak Ridge) would have been contaminated with enriched uranium. Placing the somewhat porous slag where it would be exposed to ground water would have resulted in leaching of contamination at a minimum (I will leave it for those of you with a background in radiation to imagine other potential concerns).”
The HPP/RPP shut down in 1962 and remained on “stand by.”
Then, came a radiation survey of the facility. It took from 1975 to 1978-1979 for the plant to be removed:
“Based upon the radiation survey, the presence or potential presence of classified material, and the potential presence of nickel carbonyl, it was decided that the process equipment and piping were unsuitable for conventional disposal and consequently scheduled for disposal in the classified burial ground at the Portsmouth , Ohio, Gaseous Diffusion plant.” The memo continued that the residue unloading system , building walls, floors, and structural members were also slightly contaminated and contained classified material.
After removal, elevated ground surface radiation levels spiked in at least three spots , according to a 1980 radiological survey.
SOME WORKERS AND SURVIVORS PAID
Although it depended upon their location in the weapons plant and the amount of time spent there, the federal government has by its own admission paid about $5 million dollars in compensation to former workers and their survivors.
The classified nuts, bolts, and transportation gear remain sealed in Piketon. There have been reports of radioactive waters leaking from the classified area. However, the contaminated discharges have been stabilized.
BRING OUT A GEIGER COUNTER…
Some of what you have read may seem a re-stating of previous material. Actually, we cannot deny that; however, we have been informed by retirees from the plant that one judge will not grant them compensation because no documentation exists that they handled radioactive materials. In fact, after two Oak Ridge University residual radiation studies (a follow up done due to hot areas), the location was released.
What remains in Huntington --- a concrete floor of the former HPP/RPP which is buried in Piketon and a separate building now used for waste water treatment.
Yet, to arrive at these conclusions, inner governmental agency memorandums , often contradict each other. For this reason, yes, judge, they handled the heavy duty atomic weapons making materials there , and, the “evaluation” that led to the site’s “determination that conditions meet applicable requirements for protection of public health, safety and the environment.”
Instead, of concluding “additional investigations are unnecessary,” the convoluted non-pooled reports actually strongly affirm that with the new scientific instruments of the 21st Century, the site should be tested again to ensure that the place where bomb components were that have half-lives in five or six digits should be reassessed with the knowledge of what actually occurred in the 50s and 60s.
PREVIOUS STORIES:
For Federal Register, click: http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2001-01-17-01-1329; WV................................. Huntington Pilot Plant..... Huntington............ AWE/DOE ;
For earlier story and radiological survey: http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100505-rutherford-localpilotplant.html
For Starting Materials at the plant, http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100211-rutherford-localcoldwar.html
From a former worker: http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091203-rutherford-localinformant.html
NIOSH RESPONSE: >http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100219-rutherford-localnioshresponds.html
RESIDENTS, WORKERS VICTIMS, http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091126-rutherford-localradiation.html
ALTIZER/COLE STREETS HAD MANHATTAN PROJECT NEIGHBOR: http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/100210-rutherford-localnioshdocuments.html
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
