WASHINGTON: A total of 13 employees of a New Mexico underground nuclear waste site were exposed to radiation, test results have shown.
The workers tested positive for americium-241, an isotope prevalent in the type of radioactive waste — transuranic waste containing mostly plutonium — at the nation’s first underground repository for such material.
The radionuclide is also used in commercially available smoke detectors and is a contaminant in nuclear weapons manufacturing.
But the manager at the department of energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Jose Franco, said yesterday the contamination was likely minimal and stressed that more testing would be needed. “It is premature to speculate on the health effects of these preliminary results, or any treatment that may be needed,” Franco said in a statement.
“Airborne contamination was likely at very low levels.” As soon as the airborne radiation was detected on February 14, WIPP’s ventilation system automatically switched to filtration mode in order to prevent air exchange with the surface.
No employees were working underground at the time, according to officials at the plant. (Agencies)