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IDAHO FALLS — Emergency officials at the Idaho National Laboratory are reporting that at least 17 employees at the 890-square mile site may have been exposed to low levels of plutonium while working inside a decommissioned nuclear reactor.
All impacted employees underwent initial decontamination on site and were taken to INL's Central Facilities Medical Center.
The latest update issued by the emergency command center said that six of the 17 employees have tested positive for low levels of contamination. All employees are undergoing full body scans and it may be weeks before the full extent of contamination is known, according to the command center.
The incident happened at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Materials and Fuels Complex, which has about 800 employees. There is no evidence of a release of contamination outside the facility, emergency command officials said, adding that external air sampling and radiological surveys produced no results.
The employees, who all work for Battelle Energy Alliance, were inside the Zero Power Physics Reactor when a container was opened for scheduled work, resulting in the contamination. The low-power reactor was decommissioned in 1992 and workers occasionally enter the facility to inventory special nuclear materials or prepare them for transfer to other Department of Energy facilities, the command center said.
There are two general types of plutonium:
The complex where the incident happened is 38 miles west of Idaho Falls and north of the community of Arco, Idaho.
According to the World Nuclear Association, there are two general types of plutonium: reactor-grade and weapons- grade. Plutonium is formed in nuclear power reactors from uranium and in power plants and research applications. It typically exists as plutonium oxide. When humans are exposed to it, there are three primary routes to get into the body: ingestion, contamination of open wounds or inhalation.
The association reports that the most severe threat is in the form of inhalation because plutonium can be easily trapped and then transferred, first to the blood or lymph system and then onto organs such as the liver and into bones. Deposits of the radiation can cause cancer and a particle size of less than 0.01 millimeter is considered a hazard.
Ingestion does not pose a significant threat because the plutonium is not easily absorbed as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract. For that reason, command officials say they will treat exposed employees with IV- administered fluids that contain calcium or zinc to bind the plutonium for elimination from the body. The treatment plan, determined after consultation medical and scientific experts, also includes administration of antacids to elevate the employees' pH levels to assist in the elimination process.
The Idaho National Laboratory is the nation's premier research and development lab for nuclear power and has been home to more than 50 reactors since it was established in 1949 as the National Reactor Testing Station and employs 4,000 people. There's still active research at the facility, but hundreds of workers are also involved cleaning up radioactive waste that's left over from more than 60 years of activities, including at the Zero Power Physics Reactor.
Before the reactor was decommissioned in 1992, researchers used it to build and test nuclear reactors more cheaply than constructing an entire power plant.
Email:aodonoghue@ksl.com
