NIOSH testimony on uranium enrichment plant, Piketon, Ohio before the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation and Federal Services, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, by J. R. Froines, July 21, 1980

Technical Report · Mon Jul 21 04:00:00 EDT 1980

OSTI ID:7190751

Testimony concerned an investigation conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) into the safety hazards at a uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio. Since the 1950s research has been conducted by NIOSH into the exposure of workers to radon daughter products in uranium mining and milling operations. This work first identified the lung cancer problem among American uranium miners and had aided in setting the standard for radon-daughter exposure in uranium mines. Field methods for the measurement of radon daughters, procedures for engineering controls, and medical monitoring procedures for the diagnosis of lung cancer also resulted from the research. In June of 1979 NIOSH received a request to determine whether workers at the uranium enrichment facility operated by the Good Year Atomic Corporation in Piketon had suffered from radiation-exposure effects. The initial walk through survey indicated that a study could be made of this facility. NIOSH began a retrospective cohort mortality study and industrial-hygiene study of the worker population. NIOSH has assembled a master file of all present and former employees at this site. The epidemiologic study was expected to take 1 to 2 years to complete. NIOSH was also preparing to conduct an industrial-hygiene investigation at the site to evaluate exposures to chemical and physical agents.

• Research Organization: National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7190751
• Report Number(s): PB-90-193707/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560161* -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACTINIDES
BODY
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
DISEASES
ELEMENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM
EPIDEMIOLOGY
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
ISOTOPES
LUNGS
MATERIALS
METALS
MINERS
MINES
NEOPLASMS
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
ORGANS
PERSONNEL
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADIOINDUCTION
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
RISK ASSESSMENT
SAFETY
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
URANIUM
URANIUM MINES