nuclear-news

Costly cleanup of old uranium residue

VIDEO http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/70-Years-Later-Concerns-of-Uranium-at-Fort-Wayne-Plant-142990795.html 70 Years Later, Concerns of Uranium at Fort Wayne Plant By Stephanie Parkinson March 16, 2012 FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – A Fort Wayne steel mill is still seeing the effects of uranium used there in the 1940s.

It’s been 70 years since World War II and now the government is investigating the former Joslyn site. In 1945 the site was used to make parts for the government atomic weapons. We’ll be looking at the production facilities that were in place at the time, and trying to
find where the uranium operations took place, see if there is any obvious ground disturbances, or movement, where they disposed of uranium shavings or dust,” said William Kowalewski, Army Corps of Engineers.

The former Joslyn Plant is now Valbruna Slater Steel. Employees that work on the site now tell INC News there is a building still standing there that they are told not to go into because it was an area where they had uranium in 1940s…. Although Valbruna has told
employees the radiation from the uranium is not measurable, Kowalewski says there could be long term effects and there could also be areas that were overlooked.
“We’ve seen in the past where we might have thought that all the operations took place in a defined fence line, but when we look at the old photographs, we see impacts of some activity outside the fence line,” said Kowalewski.
The Army Corps study is being done right now. Kowalewski says once that’s done any contaminated areas will be treated or removed from the site, but that won’t happen for at least another three years because of funding and the time it takes to finish their study….

March 17, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Resources -audiovicual