Mystery Material Sets Off Monitoring Alarms at Y-12 Beta-2E Facility
NS&D Monitor
12/5/2014
For the first time in at least 15 years, a worker’s personal air monitor picked up an “action level” of an unidentified hazardous material used in a secret operation in a secret part of the Y-12 National Security Complex, according to a report filed last month. Federal and contractor officials at Y-12, however, have refused to identify the material. “We are not at liberty to discuss details regarding the work done or the materials used in this particular area,” Y-12 spokeswoman Ellen Boatner said.
On Oct. 30, production officials were notified of the air sample taken eight days earlier in Beta-2E, an area of Y-12 where nuclear warhead parts are assembled and dismantled. The occurrence report indicated that the reading was above the action level for a “material of industrial hygiene concern.” Because of the mystery regarding the report, Y-12 officials were asked if the material was Fogbank, a classified material that is produced at Y-12 for use in some thermonuclear warheads. “It was not Fogbank,” Boatner said.
Was Worker Exposed to Mystery Material?
According to the occurrence report, which was filed Nov. 4, air-monitoring samples gathered from other workers in the area at the time were non-detectable. “Workers were wearing fully encapsulated suits with a supplied air system, however, there is no respiratory protection factor assigned to the suit due to its design,” the report stated. The report said follow-up smear samples were taken inside the surface of the suit worn by the affected worker and of the work area, but the results did not indicate that the affected worker actually received an exposure to the mystery material.
Nonetheless, the rare detection of the material raised a number of concerns, and there were no immediate answers to questions. “The operation in progress (at Beta-2E) is an ongoing operation for which routine sampling has been conducted for many years,” the occurrence report stated. “This is the first sample for this operation in the past 15 years that exceeded the action level.” Boatner said Y-12 is continuing to investigate “possibilities” for what caused the elevated and unusual reading in the production facility.
Y-12 Retirees Protest Benefits Cuts
NS&D Monitor
12/5/2014
More than 100 Y-12 retirees armed with signs and slogans showed up late this week near the Oak Ridge plant to protest cuts in their healthcare benefits and try to garner community support for other issues of concern—including an increase in their pensions. “This is just the beginning of our fight,” said Betty Hatmaker, a 34-year veteran at Y-12 who helped organize the protest. Another protest is already scheduled for Dec. 11 at the Federal Offices Building in Oak Ridge, and some of the retirees said they believe this is the start of a movement.
Earlier this year, Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security announced a number of benefit changes that are impacting retirees as well as much of the current workforce. The changes are part of the CNS effort to achieve compliance with a Department of Energy order that restricts how much can be spent on benefits by DOE contractors. Y-12 and its sister plant, the Pantex facility in Texas, have reportedly been out of compliance for the past few years, but the National Nuclear Security Administration said it held back in enforcing the spending limits until the Y-12/Pantex management contract change took place. CNS became manager of the plants on July 1.
