Karen Silkwood Case (Testimony of George Voelz #1)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE KAREN C . SILKWOOD, by the Administrator of her estate, Ui11i.m H. Silkwood, Plaint I If, THE KERR-MCGEE CORPORATION, a Delaware Corporation, et al, D afc nd ants. BE IT REHEWBERED that on thin 4th day o f ~ i t t i n gam asrlgnod judge in the Uastrrn District

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Jr., Attorneys a t taw, 1700 Liberty Tower, 100 Fenton and Mr. Larry D . Ottaway, Attorneys at Law, 405 Midland Center, 134 Robert S. Kerr Avenue, Oklahoma City, Oklshomar and Mr.BillJ. Zimmerman, Attorney at Law, Kerr-McGcc Center, Oklahoma City,

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in the courtroom, in the presence of the jury, The following proceedings continued FHE COURT: All right. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen a € the jury, counsel, and the party representatives. You have a witness for US, Mr. Paul ? Voelz. He'd just stepped out for a minute, and Will be right back, your Ifonor. Iwill see t o him. THE CLERK: Would you please step into the witness stand and raise your right hand. You do solemnly swear t h a t the testimony which you are about to give i n the case now in hearing shall be the truth,the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God? WITNESS VOELZ: I do. , & n d state your name for the record. Called as a witness, having been first duly sworn, testifies, as follows:

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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 i s your age? I have four children. And, m y wife died March 15th All right.Dr.Voelz, what i s your current position ? Iam 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 agree that we could call the LOS Alamos That isthe common terminology. SO with your permission and i n my questions I ' lltry t o Say LASL henceforth, and that is what w e ' l l mean. Now,please tell the jury what your duties and

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responsibilities arc a s Health Division Leader at LASL. Well, LASL--that's the initials of the laboratory, L-A-S-L. All of the responsibilities f o r health and safety are focused on t h e Health Division, which I am in charge of. In the Health Division we have activities pertaining to the health and safety of employees, through ruchactivites a s the health physics, occupational medicine, industrial safety, fire protection, industry hygiene activities, waste management, and environmental surveillance. In addition--that accounts f o r approximately half of the division--in addition we have research activities, such as 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 to 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 on the application o l some of the spin-offs of our other research programs into the agricultural sciences,

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related to practical applications in agriculture. We currently have on board about540 people. Are all of those people working under your supervision and direction, and are you administrative head of that That is correct.

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i f you would, Dr. Voelz, about the plutonium activities Well, the programs inthe laboratory--we have a number of research and developmental programs involving plutonium in operating groups within the laboratory. These would be primarily in the chemistry and metallurgy of plutonium, and also in the fabrication of plutonium materials, and alloys.Primarily these arc! activities in new development of plutonium uses, such as new fu cls - - w e ' v e had programs on the power qc ncr at or s for space satellites. We had powcr generator artificial heart proqrarns, using plutonium isotopes.Th csc arc thc types of programs that go on All right. Comparatively speaking, that is com par it iv ely comparable to other facilities in the country, would you say that LASL isa major facility Yes. We are a major. Is there a separate facility,separately housed there wherc plutonium fabrication activities are engaged i n ? Im et all u rgy facility, and a fabrication facility.I Now,about how many people a t LASL regularly worked i n

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All right. NOW, Dr. Voelz, a s Health Division Leader, are you responsible for the health and safety of those plutonium workers at LASL? I mean, by that, on the day-to-day-on-line operational delivery of medical attention,if needed, and 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 the responsi bil it y for the services, and generate the policies, and carry out the special procedures that go With it. So w e do not have the excluafve responsibilities.It really starts with supervisors. you have health Qhsyics technicians, and health iC Yes, we do. 0 Is that group included with the Health Division which That is correct. So the people that do the actual monitoring of t h eQ

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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. All right. NOW, I asked you about plutonium workers-- since this case involves plutonium--but let me ask you i f you are responsible,in 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 employbos. And, how many employees are there ? We have atthe present time about6,800 employees a t Okay. NOW, what are your duties and responsibilities a t LASL as it relates to the public in the surrou.nding environs and to the facility environment, surrounding h a%, within the division actually two groups of rammental surveillance, and environmental research atu dies. And, these programs involve measurements i n the air, water, soil,vegetation. And, of not only plutonium, but other radioactive materials, as well as chom ical s, and non - radioactive materials. 0All right. NOW, Dr. Voelz, who i s your employer?

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I am 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. Just tell them about the organizational structure, if you would, and the relationship, if any, between the University of California and any governmental agencies. Well, the WLSL, really, came into being during WorlQ War 11. At that time t h e objective was primarily in the atomic weapon development. And, at that time the government decided to organize this through universitic: 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 the laboratory--L)rSL--it has been run by the University L*has been done undar contract w i t h the AEC the Energy Research and Development Administration, and now the Department of Energy. So, that has been its hirtory--how it developed. All right. Now, the jury has become familiar with the division of the responribilitier that the Atomic &C-.YIa formed, and the rubaequent organizations,

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Energy Commirsion had, being regulatory on t h e one * ids, and research and development on the other, which occurred about early 1975. Nuclear Regulatory Commission--which is involved in regulation and inspection--has a contractual relationship with the University of California f o r the operation of the laboratory? Well, in the days of the AEC w e were under contract to the AEC. A s a contractor we came under the rules a n d 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. So, we operate t h e U S L aa a contractor under their rules and regulations. Let m e ask you if the Now, I think i n your question you included our cutrantly in technical ruppott of the Nuclear We have afew special programs now ry Commi8sion. Theme a t e contracts for A work, fairly small parts of the laboratory MS, but we do have some of those types of 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 later niade, followed, into t h e DepartmeI

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II We were 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? A That is correct. P. Rather than with the regulatory and inspection side ? department within your health division? A Yes. One of twelve groups is our occupational medicine Q Incidentally, we were going t o get into your background. You are a medical doctor--and not a PhD--are you not? A That ia correct. Q Okay. NOW, I would like for you to tell the jury, Dr. Voalz, in some detail, if you would, please, about mmdic8l department at LASL. A. 11, we have a department with a staff of five physicians, nurses, and other para-medical personnel. Their primary function i s to carry out a program of occupational hcdlth needs of our employees. That involves the pre-placement physical examinations, evaluations of people's health. They carry on clinical

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duties, treating, and evaluating occupational in juri cs,I non-occup3tion~1,c olds,that tyl ic of minor illness. And, also l o o k at the working conditions in the plant a s to any medical recommendations, as part of OULoverall survcillancc of work environment. Those a r e the major responsibilities in thc All right. Now, are there any spccial facilities at LASL designed for J n y medical problcms that would be peculiar, lets say, to nuclcar industry occupational Yes. We havc within the health physics group, for example, facilities for monitoring exposures to I people, such as personal dosimc:try that the workcrs wear, and that, o f course, the results of that get into I our record-kccping systerns, which, o E course, are kept on computerized systems. We have special unting facilities. This is where w e count the foactivity in the body--people for internal, possible internal deposition, that is, for any radioactive material. Wc havc spccial facilities f o r plutonium, which mcasuremcnts arc made cithCr Of inhaled plutonium. We also have specialized Wound

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chemistry Labor at or ics for analysis of samples. Thesc i n OUK facilities.It would include analysis of fecal samples, or other biological samples that might be used primarily in accident situations. rqe have in the laboratory measurcments of the air samples, Of filters, sampling the air in a work place. include capabilities of measuring soils,or vegetation, t lThosc arc most of the types of special facilities I Well, actually historically Los Alamos was the Eirst place in the world where plutonium was handled in large quant lt Lcs.Letme change that a little bit : plutonium that was produced in reactors really came elsewhere and shipped to Lo8 Alamos, so really how to purify it and hon dlc it once i t was produced-- 1 was done. And that w;1s done i n 1914 and1945. at that time thcrc wcre no procedures rc ally dcvelopcd, I

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around t o do anytliinq but vcry small cs peri ment s, i t was just ;I nia tt cro la € e w months and i t was bcinrl handled in larg c quant it ics at Los Alamos. Therc wcrc 1 no procedures really for limited procedures on how I to detect and use plutonium, and to protect the1 workers. So, the very first project in life sciences iI a t Los Alamos--which was really the predecessor of wcre biochemists--a group of four people were put op 1 the pro jc ct.I remind you that this was under wartime, I so i t was don c in rm ll y an overtime situation.It was "how do wc measure plutonium in urine and convert that kind of a measurement in tc the internal body burden rncasuremcnt?" So, that became the method that has been used ever since. And, that was developed a t Q Under whose sup cr vision and direction was that it was done by Dr. Wright Hanglmn, and at that time he was in a chemistry group--there was no health division ah that time--they were clcnicnts o f tlic health division :n several different groups during

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Our basic Ineasurcments on urine are still dependent I1 NOW, Dr. Voclz, thcrc15 onc thing I would likc to cover here to make sure that the jury has a concept about LASL: The name includes the words " Scientific Laboratory " but let me ask you if the facility in clu dc s ' other things,other than laboratories, which w e 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 fabric atL on of plutonium, , which do csn ' t sound like laboratory work. That ' s what iWell, we have the facilities really of handling or research and development on all types of materials1. work with other radioactive inaterials--uranium, for example. There arc many other facilities at thc lob oratory. Wc have very advanced machine shops, im ills,fount l ric s. iJc havea Large activity in cx plo siv cs. hlc havc chc ni is try laboratorics of all I types. And, c ne rgy technologies,geothermal, and I

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other programs. So, the laboratory--what we call tllc "laboratory" a t IASL really is multiple facilities which can really address nearly all types of scientific technical problems. Now, DL-. Voclz,is there any ongoing research currently undcr your direction a t LASL relating to Yes. We havc several programs rel at lng to the health effects area of plutonium. Would you please tell the jury what that work is. Well,inthe work with animals, our work the last number of ycars has been primarily in the e fEc ct s of plutonium in the lung. And, w e havc studied in animals primarily rodents, hamsters, and rats, the effects of plutonium …