The health and safety of workers cleaning up the
nation’s nuclear weapons complex have been badly neglected,
according to a study by the Office of Technology Assessment, a
research arm of the U.S. Congress. Because of the historic autonomy
and secrecy of its atomic mission, the Department of Energy is the
only federal agency exempt from regulation by the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration. The agency and its contractors
are supposed to enforce OSHA standards, but like concern for the
environment, worker safety has long been subordinated to production
goals. Now, with weapons production halted, DOE is shifting much of
its resources to cleanup. However, the cleanup “cure” could be more
harmful than the contamination, the OTA warns. Policies and
programs to protect workers are not yet in place despite ambitious
plans for environmental restoration at nuclear weapons plants,
which could involve as many as 25,000 scientists, engineers and
technicians over the next five years. DOE’s environmental
management office has only one staff person trained in occupational
health and safety. The OTA also sounds a fiscal alarm. Weaknesses
in DOE’s occupational health and safety programs could expose the
government to massive liability claims akin to those made by
veterans, downwinders and workers exposed to radiation during
nuclear bomb building and testing. The 88-page report, Hazards
Ahead: Managing Cleanup Worker Health and Safety at the Nuclear
Weapons Complex, is available for $5 from the Superintendent of
Documents, Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954
(202/783-3238).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Workers need protection.
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