nuclear-news

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Thirteen workers were exposed to radiation during a recent leak at the U.S. underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico, according to the results of preliminary tests announced Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Energy and the contractor that runs the Waste Isolation Pilot Project said in a joint news release that they have notified the workers of the positive results and will do further testing. They declined to comment further until a news conference Thursday afternoon.

“It is important to note that these are initial sample results,” the statement said. “These employees, both federal and contractor, will be asked to provide additional samples in order to fully determine the extent of any exposure.”

All employees who were working when the leak occurred late Feb. 14 were checked for external contamination before being allowed to leave, the news release said. But biological samples were also taken to check for possible exposure from inhaling radioactive particles.

Elevated radiation levels have been detected in the air around the plant, but officials have said the readings are too low to constitute a public health threat.

The accident is the first-known release of radiation since the dump near Carlsbad began taking plutonium-contaminated waste from the nation’s nuclear bomb building sites 15 years ago. It came just nine days after a truck hauling salt in the plant’s deep mines caught fire, but officials say they are confident the incidents are unrelated.

Officials said they can tell from their analyses of air samples in and around the plant that a container of waste leaked, but it could be weeks before they can get underground to find out what caused it. Possible scenarios include a ceiling collapse or a forklift puncturing a canister, Farok Sharif, president of the Nuclear Waste Partnership that runs the plant, said Monday before a community meeting in Carlsbad.

More than 250 people attended that forum, where Sharif and Joe Franco, the DOE site office manager, told sometimes skeptical residents that the elevated amounts of radiation that have been detected offer no more risk than a dental X-ray or an airline flight.

WIPP is the nation’s first deep underground nuclear repository and the only facility in the country that can store plutonium-contaminated clothing and tools from Los Alamos National Laboratory and other federal nuclear sites.