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Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION Energ y Research and Development Admini strati on Oak Ridge Operations Research and Technical Swpport Division Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830 On Thursday, Ma possibility of lega HNL. This letter i s to confirm the information-given t o your office by telephone and t o provide some additional information regarding -nd the radiation exposures recorded for by telephone of the seemingly as a result legation of injury from hile an employee of .degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford UGversity. t i e was employed by the Laboratory on November 16, 1972, his most recent assignment being with the Energy Division. He resigned from his position at the Laboratory on April 25, At the time of his resignafion,-made several derogatory statements to his management about HNL, including statements regarding his b e l i e f of the Laboratory's attempt t o "cover up I' radiation exposures received by employees. The allegations included statements that at least four persons had died from "overexposure t o plutonium. I ' There were also statements about a fatality that supposedly had occurred at the Tower Shielding Facility (TSF).
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purpose of discussing the allegations of- particularly with reference to statements regarding the death of former HNL employees as a result of plutonium shortly afte Attached i s a summary of D. M. Davis of the Health Physics Division joined i n the meeting as reported b y Mr. Davis. obtaining m th a +informed professional ethics wwld prevent the Health Division from making such information available proper authorities. According to Dr. Lincoln , a very hostile mood but after a ent to the office of he insisted upon and approval of the formation about the cause of death of-. Dr. Lincoln arrived at h i s office in left in what -- Transuranium Registry at Richland, informed Dr. Lincoln that ad telephoned on behalf of -d that about the Laboratory. t was on the basis of this c a l l from- Norwood that Dr. Norwood informed Dr. Lincoln that the ERDA was "probably going to have a lawsuit from-' what i s currently the Chemical Technology Division u n t i l 1961, at which time he was transferred to the Inspection Engineering Department. Durina the years of his employment as a radiation worker with the Chemicalw internal and external. &or the records show that as contaminated with radioactive materials fairly frequently, neither the external nor internal exposures exceeded the established recommended maximum permissible levels. The records show that -umulative whole body dose was about 35 rem for the total period for his employment and his. . maximum internal exposure was calculated to be about one-half, or slightly- , greater, of the maximum permissible body burden (MPBB)for plutonium. Because of his significant fraction of a body burden, in 1961-was placed on restrictive work with regard to potential exposure, particularly to internal exposures. This restriction was in keeping with the ERDAM Chapter guides. -died in November 1972. At the time of death, an autopsy was made t o determine the cause of death and also to obtain samples to determine the body burden of plutonium in . Permission for this autopsy and collection of and was solicited b y Dr.-- Lincoln.-I_-0samples was given b y
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had previously expressed an interest i n donating his body to "science" because he knew he had a partial body burden of plutonium and there was need for more i n - formation from human exposures, The Registry had been contacted and discussions had occurred as to how a whole body would be analyzed, what such a study would cost, who would pay for i t , and how would the restrictions on shipment of an unembalmed body be overcome. Before arrangements could be completed,- was found t o have inoperable lung cancer. pursue the mutter during the time of palliative radiation therapy, so no action was taken until-uddenly died. At such time, -was willing and interested t o give permission for the autopsy and Transuranium Registry study. Samples removed are now being analyzed b y the Registry at Richland, Washington. Or. Lincoln did not feel he should Incomplete data from the samples taken at the time o f the autopsy provided additional information for concluding that-did not have more than some small fraction of aMPBB of plutonium. that the deposition i n the lungs was 0.77 nCi and the deposition i n the bone was 0.88 n C i (the maximum permissible burden in total body i s 400 nCi and for bone, the limiting critical organ, the value i s 40 nCi). Data for other organs, liver, aorta, pancreas, kidney, thyroid, muscle fat, and spleen, are not available at this time but should be available i n the near future. From the autopsy samples, i t was determined The Laboratory plans n o further action i n this matter unless directed t o do so by our
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OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY On Friday morning, May 16, 1975, I met with i n Mr. Bruce's.. office for the purpose of discussing some alleged incidents at the Laboratory which, according tow, have been "covered up b y management. " From previous information and requests from Mr. Bruce's office, i t was my understanding that-had alleged that there had been an accident resulting in a fatality at the TSF for which no reports or information had been made available and that four former Laboratory employees had died as a result of exposure to plutonium. On the morning of the lbth, the discussion was primarily about the exposures to plutonium-our methods of determining organ burdens and the level of exposures that had been received b y present employees, and, i n particular, the four employees who allegedly died from the overexposure to plutonium. was informed that we did not ha;e employees presently on the roll records show any past employees whose body burdens exceeded the maximum permissible. There was a discussion, in particular, of the exposure which received.-alleges that he had been told b y burdens i n excess of the maximum permissible, nor do our his death, that-physical condition (i.e., that he was dying) was a result of his exposure t o plutonium.-alleged that this same source informed him tha- had said that there were three other former employees at the Laboratory who had died of an overexposure to L In our discussion,-couId not, or would not, reveal the names of the other allegedly exposed individuals and would not indicate that he would give to us any information that he might receive from previous sources or from other sources regarding the alleged exposures. He contended that Laboratory
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employees were "afraid" to give out information because of the pressure from Laboratory management. He alleged that he, while an employee at the Laboratory, had been "under pressure 'I not to talk about certain types of situations or problems. He could not quote any directives or conversations t o this effect, but simply stated that i t was something that all employees at the Laboratory encountered, In the closing part of our discussio-ade i t quite plain that he did not believe what Mr. Bruce or I had told him and that the records which we retained were inadequate, incorrect, and, in general, withheld from those who needed to know. In this particular conversation,- did not refer again to the alleged accident at the TSF. I understood from Mr. Bruce's comments that this item had been mentioned before I arrived and -had indicated that he did not wish to.pursue this allegation.
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Note on Possible Lawsuit We have been getting rumors at HNL that we may have an upconiing lawsuit related t o plutonium exposure. -was employed a t HNL from January 1948 until November 1972 at which time he died. From '48 t o '62, he was i n Chem Tech and had potential for exposure t o airborne was transferred toa non-exposure job i n another division. of a lung problem - perhaps cancer. are not yet known t o HNL. In 1962, he may have had inthe range o f 1/2 MPBR of P u and ORAU did an autopsy but results He reportedly was a heavy smoker and had emphysema. His wife lives i n Oak Ridge. Our rumors r e a possible lawsuit have come from two sources. One i s Dag Norwood who handles the plutonium registry at Hanford. The second source of rumor isa disgruntled ex-employee by the name of-who quita month or so ago. -as a reasonably good scientist in the Energy Division but suddenly becarrie very antiestablishment. alleged many injuries and deaths a t HNL which were "covered up". allegations he made sound paranoid t o me. Anyhow, he apparently has helped some work and met with Frank Bruce and Tom Lincoln, both cf whom tried t o reassure him that there was no massive "cover up''. them both liars. He essentially calied 1 suspect some o f you will wish t o look into this.I have requested HNL t o send me more information on the s it m finn.