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IN THE UNXTED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE KAREN C . SILKWOOD, by the Adarintmtrstot of her estate, William H. Silkwood, Plaint 1f f , THE KERR - XCEE CORPORATION, a Delaware BE IT REKEHBtRED that on thl8 4th day o f Mav. 1979, the above-captioned cause Conth \ ls8to JURY TRIAL, before tho Honorable Frank ritting am amrignod judge in the Wemtrrn Dirt ric t
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DIRECT CRQSS REDIRECT RECROSS II P Ii ILL IP, GERALD A . Page 5884
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2300 City National Uank Tower, Oklahoma Clty, Jr.,Attorneys at Law, 1700 Liberty Tower, 100 Droadwsy, Oklahoma City, Oklshomd; Mr. Elliott C. Fenton and Mr. Larry D . Ottaway, Attorneys a t Law, 105 Midland Center, 1 3 4 Robert S. Kerr Avenue, Oklahoma City, Oklahomar and Mr.Dill J. Zimmerman, Attorney a t Law, Kerr-HcGcc Center, Oklahoma City,
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(Reporter's note: The following proceedings continued inthe courtroom, i n the presence of the jury, THE COURT: All right. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen o f the jury,counsel, and the party representatives. You have a witness for us, Mr. Paul ? Voelz. He'd just stepped out fora minute, and will be right back, your Ifonor. Iwill see to him. THE CLERK: Would you please step into the witness stand and raise your right hand. You do solemnly swear that the testimony which y are about to give in the care now i n hearing shall be the truth,the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? WITNESS VOELZ: I do. &nd state your name for the record.
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Dr. Voelz, make yourself comfortable, and position those two microphones where they will seem to be i n Where do you reside, sir? I live in Los Alamos, New Mexico. And, what is your age ? Ihave four children. And, m y wife died March 15th I am the Health Division Leader of the Los Alamos How long have you held that position ? Okay. Now, for short, I hand you here - - I wonder if we could agrcc that we could call the Los Alamos That isthe common terminology. SO with your permission and in my questions I'll try t o say LASL henceforth,and that is what ue'll mean. NOW, please tell the jury what your duties and
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responsibilities are as Health Division Leader at LASL. Well, LRSL--that's the initials of the laboratory, L-A-S-L. A l l of the responsibilities for health and safety are focused on the Health Division, which 1 am in charge of. Inthe Health Division w e have activities pertaining to the health and safety of employees, through suchactivites as the health physics, occupational medicine, industrial safety, fire protection, industry hygiene activities, waste management, and environmental surveillance. In addition--that accounts for approximately half of the such a s animal studies on radioactive materials, and chemicals. We have a large research program on the effects of various toxic materials on cells, biological cells, and the effects that may be seen in cells. We have a program on the application of stabilized area for development of application of these materials t o biological sciences and life sciences. We have a program on environmental studies, research programs on environmental studies involving both radioactive materials and chemicals. And, we have then a program other research programs into the agricultural sciencest
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what we call agricultural bio-science, in such areas as diagnosis of diseases of animals, and other studies related to practical applications in agriculture. All right. Now, how many people work in the Health We currently have on board about 5 4 0 people. Are all of those people working under your supervision and direction, and are you administrative head of that Is the Health Division, which you head up, made up of-- is it organized into separate groups? HOW many groups are there? We have twelve groups, And, does each group have a group leader? That is correct. And, do those twelve group leaders then report to You? And, I take it that those groups would be divided up in accordance with these areas of activities that YOU have described for the jury when you were telling them That is correct. Okay. Now,I would like for you to tell the jury,
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if you would, Dr. Voelz, about the plutonium activities Well, the programs in the laboratory--we have a number of research and developmental programs involving plutonium in operating groups within t h e laboratory. These would b e primarily in the chemistry and metallurgy of plutonium, and a l s o in the fabrication of plutonium materials, and alloys. Primarily these a r e activitics in new development of plutonium uses, such as new fuels--we've had programs on the power Tenerators for space satellites. We h a d powcr generator artificial heart proqrams, using plutonium isotopes. Thcsc are thc types of programs t h a t gfl on at Los Alamos. All right. Comparatively speaking, that is comparitively comparable to other facilities in t h e country, would you say that LASL is a major facility Yes. We are a major. IS there a separate facility, separately housed there wherc plutonium fabrication activities are engaged in? Yes. We have two major facilities: We have a chcnistry, metallurgy facility, anda fabricatlon facility. NOW, about how many people at LASL rc qu la rly worked in
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AIL right. NOW, Dr. Voelz,as Health Division Leader, are you responsible for the health and safety of those I mean, by that, on the day - t o - day - o n - line operational monitoring of the work place, and all those things ? Yes. I might amplify that: I n our health and safety programs the primary responsibility for safety really rests on the supervisor of the people in the operation. They are the primary person in the safety of the individual, as well as the employees themselves. And then the Health Division, which has there s pons - i bil it y for the services, and generate the policies, and carryout the special procedures that go with it. SO w e do not have the exclusive responsibilities.It really starts with supervisors. a you have health ph sy ics technicians, and health IS that group included with the Health Division which That is correct. So the people that do the actual monitoring of the
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work place, and the health physics technicians--which the ladies and gentlemen of the jury have heard about here--work within a group that is in your division? That is correct. A l l right. NOW, I asked you about plutonium workers-- since this case involves plutonium--but let me ask you if you are responsible, i n fact, for the health and safety, from the medical point of view, and the radiation safety point of view for all the employees Yes. We have the overall responsibility for emplo*es. And, how many employees are there? We have at the present time about 6,800 employees at Los Alamos, at LASL. Okay. Now, what are your duties and responsibilities at LASL as it relates to t h e public in the surrounding environs and to the facility environment, surrounding a, within the division actually two groups of hm na en tal surveillance, and environmental research studies. And, these programs involve measurements in t h e air, water, soil, vegetation. And, of not only plutonium, but other radioactive materials, a s well as chcmicals, and non-radioactive materials.
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Iam employed by the University of California. Now, I would like for you to tell the jury the fundamental organization out there. You have stated that the name of the institution is LASL--Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory - - but your employer is the University of California. organizational structure, if you would, and the relationship,ifany, between the University of California and any governmental agencies. Well, the LASL, really, came into being during Worlg War 11. At that time the objective was primarily in the atomic weapon development. And, at that time the government decided to organize this through universiti e of which the University of California has very large chemistry and physics departments, and was fundamental in their plan, and so actually since the inception of of Calw nia. Just tell them about the has been done under contract with the AEC the Energy Research and Development Administration, and now the Department of Energy. So, that has been its hi r tory - - how it developed. All right. Now, the jury has become familiar with the division of the resp on rfb ili ties that the Atomic
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Q All right. Now, after the research and development function, and the regulatory function were split in '75, did LASL become--was it under contract then with ERDA, which was l a t e r niade, followed, into the Departmen Energy Commirsion had, being regulatory on the one aids, and research and development on the other, which occurred about early 1975. Nuclear Regulatory Commission--which is involved in regulation and inspection--ha6 a contractual relationship with the University of CaliEornia f o r the operation of the laboratory? Well, in the days of the AEC we were under contract to the AEC. and regulations of the AEC, which is distinguished from a licensed operation, which comes under the nuclear regulatory section of the AEC at that time--now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. WSL am a Contractor under their rule8 and regulations. Now, I think in your quertion you included our Let m e ask you i f the A s a contractor we came under the rules So, we operate the currently in technical support of the Nuclear W e have a feu special programs now ry Commi88fon. Theme are contracts for an work, fairly small parts o t the laboratory m a , but we do have some of those types of
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We ware under contract to ERDA. and the University of California - - has been with the research and development side of the governmental agencies dealing with atomic energy ? That is correct. Rather than with the regulatory and inspection side ? All right. Okay. Now, Dr. Voelz department within your health div Yes. One of twelve groups is our is there a medical Incidentally,we were going to get into your background. That is correct. Okay. Now, I would like for you to tell the jury, DI. Voelz, i n some detail, if you would, please, about d ical department at LASL. k 11, we have a department with a staff of five physicians, nurses, and other para - medical personnel. Their primary function is to carryout a program of involves the pre - placement physical examinations, evaluations of people's health. They carry on clinical
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non - occupation J1, colds, that ty pc of minor illness. And, also look at the working conditions in the plant overall sur v cilla ncc or work environment. Those are the major responsibilities in thc All right. Now, are there any spc cia l facilities a t LASL dc sign od far any medical problcms that would Yes. We have with2.n the health physics group, for I example,facilities for monitoring exposures to, people,such as personal dosimetry that the workers wear, and that, of course,the results of t ll at get into I kept on computerized systems. We have special unting facilities.This is where we count the i or ct iv it yin the body--people for internal, possible in t crna l deposition, that is,for any radioactive in atc rial. Wc have spc cia l Cac ili tics for plutonium, which rncasuremcnts arc madc ci th cr of inhaled plutonium.We also have specialized wound
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includc capabilities of measuring soils, or vegetation,1 ?. Tncidcntally, was the process for testing urine sarnplcs 1I I I s ' I A. Well, actually historically Los Alamos was the first place in the world where plutonium was handled in ! large quant r tics. Let m e change that a little bit : 1 plutonium that was produced in reactors really camc I else wh crc and shipped to Lo6 Alamos, so really I how to purify it and handle it oncc i t was produccd-- was done. Anti thatw,is done in1914and1945. And I at that time thcrc wcre no procedures rcal ly clcvelnpcct, I
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division al: that tim c - - they were clc nic nts of the around to do any thin q but very sr,i~llc s peri in ents, i t was just ;1 nut t cr oC a few months andit was bcinq handled in Lnrgc quantities at Los Alamos. Therc wcrc no procedures really for limited procedures on how to detect and use plutonium,and to protect the workers. So, the very first project i n life sciences atLos Alarnos--which was really the predecessor of wcre biochemists - - a group of four people wcre put op the project.I remind you that this was under wartime SO it WAS don c in really an overt in re situation.It was “how do w e rnensurt: pluto ni w,in urine and convert that kind of a measurement into the internal body burden rncasurerncnt?” So, that became the method that has been used ever since. And, that was dsv eloped at Q. Under whose supervision and direction was that * mad Ute developed, do you recall? -11, it was done byDr.Wright Hangham, and at that Ii time he was in a chemistry group - - there was no health
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Our basic incasurcments on urine are still dependent I Now, Dr. Voclz, thcrc is one thing I would li kc to cover h crc to make sure that the l ury has a concept about LRSL: The name includes the words " Scientific Laboratory " but let me ask you if the facility includes o th cr things, other than labor at or ics, which wc sometimes think of as solely research places where people arc working with various kinds of laboratory Iam not sure I really understand your question,but Like you mentioned,there is fabrication of plutonium, which do csn ' t sound like laboratory work. That ' s what I'm get tiny at. Well,we have the facilities really of handling or res c arch and development on all ty pcs of material.; I laboratory. Wc have very advanced macliinc shops,
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other programs. So, the laboratory--what we call thc " laboratory " a t IASL really is multiple facilities which can really address nearly all ty pcs of currently und cr you rct irc c tion at LASL rel at lng to Yes. We havc several programs relating to the health effects area of plutonium. Would you plc as c tell the jury what that work is. Well,in the work with animals, our work the last number of y cars has been primarily in the effects of plutonium in the lung.And,we have studi cd in effects of plutonium which is injected or inhaled We have another program involving cells i n which taken individual cells and grow them in a layer, then you can put plutonium nest to thcrn, and you can und …
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