Nuclear Exposure Issues

I had an interesting conversation with my son. He went to visit his grandmother who we don't get along with and passed on some information to us. My wife's father worked in the nuclear industry in Handford from about 1945-1987 In 1986 he got what the doctors in Richland, Washington told him was lung cancer. However what they didn't tell the rest of the family is that he actually suffered from what is called berylium disease, a nucluer exposure issue. We also found out that those who are chiuldren of such workers are at risk of the same disease due to secondary causes. My wife's mother recieved a hyge sum of money as part of a class action, however failed to notify her daughter of the possible health risks to her. Has anyone here had any exposure to this or suffered from this disease, if so, can you share your experiences. Thanks!

These aren't specifically about Hanford,
but there has been progress in getting recognition and compensation for these illnesses.
Also check out www.theexposed.net

Ohio challenged on nuke plant deaths
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bananas/900

Senate OKs 'Day of Remembrance' for nuke workers
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bananas/889

Tribute to Janine Anderson at DOE Website
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bananas/884

Janine Anderson Dies After Championing Sick Nuclear Worker Cause: Last Interview
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bananas/874

There is a great deal of information available about exposure limits at Hanford but as you will see the early years were ones of constantly shifting (upward) of exposure limits. DOE itself has published quite a few booklets on the subject although I don't recall reading anything about "beryllium disease".

They quit producing plutonium there in 1986, so I guess he was one of the ones to be laid off or retired when production stopped. It may console you to learn that the older your are the more susceptible you are to the effects of radiation exposure and so as a child your wife would have been less susceptible. A professor at UNC did a study on it and determined that people over 55 were much more at risk than younger workers at the site. That and of course your father in law's exposure didn't do anything to your wife although he may have carried contaminants home with him, but that is a different matter. To be honest about it I'd be a lot more concerned about simply living downwind from the site or possibly even worse, drinking water taken from the river. You could not pay me enough money to live in Pasco and you'd have to be crazy to eat a fish out of the Columbia River down stream from the site.

See the Merck Manual entry for Beryllium Disease. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec05/ch057/ch057d.html

Exposure to berylium, either the pure metal or alloys containing the metal, causes the disease. In particular, if berylium dust related to machinine is inhaled, the dust gradually sensitizes the immune system and results in a chronic inflamation of the lungs.

Your wife's risk for berylium disease depends on whether the metal was carried home as dust in clothes, or whether her father might have brought home some of the metal and used it in hobby work or crafts. There is also the possiblity that it was carried from the plant to the home by wind if she lived in fairly close proximity.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium for more on the properties of berylium and its uses in scientific instruments. For example, it is used in X-ray tubes to make the window through which X-rays are emitted.