Word: plutonium
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Records of an October, 1948 meeting of an AEC advisory committee indicated that enough was known then about releases of radiation at the Hanford plutonium plant near Richland, Washington, to raise concerns about workers' health. Yet it was decided at that meeting not to recommend closing Hanford temporarily while action was taken to stop the release of plutonium particles into...
...report deals almost entirely with worker exposure to airborne plutonium, but does note that significant quantities of the radioactive element were measured away from the Hanford plant...
Despite the concerns about health dangers, "a counter-balancing concern was the perceived need, fueled by Cold War fears, to continue plutonium production because of the relatively small size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in 1948," the report said...
...documents uncovered by the Glenn committee indicated that a major concern at the Hanford facility was the release of huge numbers of plutonium particles. The problem, dating at least to 1947, was traced to corroded fan duct work in the stacks of two chemical separation plants...
...inhalation and lung retention of particles," which he said "can produce radiation damage." At the time, it was estimated that a worker could be inhaling about 16 radioactive particles per month. This suggests that over a one-year period a worker could have inhaled an amount of plutonium that is more than twice the current official lifetime lung burden allowed for Energy Department workers, the Glenn report said...