Nov. 26, 2009
Residents, Workers in 70s Unintended ‘Victims’ of Radiation Experiments
Remains of Classified Uranium Contaminated Nickel Facility Trucked to Portsmouth without Transportation Containment Protection
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – During the Cold War we worried about an end of the world “On the Beach” scenario if a nuclear war reached an unabated status. Citizens were trained for the less than oblivion possibilities --- area buildings (and those across the US) received an orange/black sign designating its basement as a fallout (from radiation) shelter.
The shelters were stocked with food and water. The Greenbrier contained a secret bomb shelter where members of the House of Representatives and the Senate (and families) would have been housed. Dad took courses at the Veteran’s Hospital in Huntington, WV on Fallout Shelter management. A tunnel running between the main hospital and the Recreation Building was a potential safe zone in the event of nuclear war.
Similarly, strong rumors persisted that Charleston’s chemical valley made the area a high priority target. Similarly, the Nickel Plant then apparently contained an operation that put Huntington at risk for a nuclear warhead, meaning all those school practices of putting heads down and under desks and filing into the hall.
Recently, HNN has reported on the Portsmouth (Piketon) Plant once operated by Goodyear then Martin Marietta. It enriched uranium.
Based on testimony, December 16, 1994, before the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., the Huntington facility was indeed contaminated with uranium, asbestos, and nickel carbonyl .
At that meeting, testimony was memorialized by Diana Salisbury, a member of environmental groups such as Serpent Mount/Ohio Brush Creek Alliance and Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security and Vina Colley, a former Piketon worker and president of two environmental groups.
Ms. Salisbury read documents submitted to the committee concerning Owen Thompson, a member of a special squad who handled problems at the Portsmouth (Piketon) plant and high risk, high exposure activities, during his employment.
Prior to his death, he testified in Cincinnati. Statements were read at the 1994 D.C. meeting that had been provided to his attorney:
"I did my country wrong." Owen Thompson said that after his health problems, after what's happened to him. He said, "I did my country wrong," and listen why.
The Inco Nickel Plant was dismantled, because it was contaminated with uranium, asbestos, and nickel carbonyl. The factory was so contaminated with uranium, asbestos, and nickel carbonyl that it had to be removed from the city of Huntington, West Virginia.
One contractor died immediately during the dismantling, and another died within a few days, indicating a pretty high dose. The full account given by Owen Thompson of this incident is not even in the public record.
The documents on this project indicate that the scrap metal from the Inco plant was to be transported by truck from West Virginia to the Portsmouth site in November of 1978 through March of 1979.
Now I'm seeing stop. [Referring to directions from the committee] Okay. Now what is crucial about this incident is there was nothing done to mitigate any exposure to any of the communities where this material was being transported, and this was hauled in at night and buried at night on the plant site while machine gun guards stood over Owen Thompson.
Ms. Salisbury continued, “Now the reports don't say that [ the machine gun guards, presumably]. My point in all this is, the reports don't always tell what really happened. What's in the report sometimes is not anything like the full discussion.”
During her testimony, Salisbury stated, The Portsmouth facility is unique in both size and function. Portsmouth's mission is to convert solid uranium gas to between two and five percent for commercial reactors and to more than 93 percent for nuclear weapons programs.
WHY APPALACHIA?
During the first portion of her testimony, Salisbury explains that the thinly populated Appalachian areas appealed to the government for the nuclear plants:
“The location and function of the three Federal facilities located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio, are critical to the Committee's task. These facilities were designed to enrich uranium for military weapons and were located in rural regions of the Appalachian mountains. That is where these facilities were placed. They were put away from people. Unfortunately, we didn't get the word. We consider that we're people. The Appalachian population represents one group selected to bear the risks and burdens for the greater societal good.”
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Residents, Workers in 70s Unintended ‘Victims’ of Radiation Experiments
Remains of Classified Uranium Contaminated Nickel Facility Trucked to Portsmouth without Transportation Containment Protection
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – During the Cold War we worried about an end of the world “On the Beach” scenario if a nuclear war reached an unabated status. Citizens were trained for the less than oblivion possibilities --- area buildings (and those across the US) received an orange/black sign designating its basement as a fallout (from radiation) shelter.
The shelters were stocked with food and water. The Greenbrier contained a secret bomb shelter where members of the House of Representatives and the Senate (and families) would have been housed. Dad took courses at the Veteran’s Hospital in Huntington, WV on Fallout Shelter management. A tunnel running between the main hospital and the Recreation Building was a potential safe zone in the event of nuclear war.
Similarly, strong rumors persisted that Charleston’s chemical valley made the area a high priority target. Similarly, the Nickel Plant then apparently contained an operation that put Huntington at risk for a nuclear warhead, meaning all those school practices of putting heads down and under desks and filing into the hall.
Recently, HNN has reported on the Portsmouth (Piketon) Plant once operated by Goodyear then Martin Marietta. It enriched uranium.
Based on testimony, December 16, 1994, before the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., the Huntington facility was indeed contaminated with uranium, asbestos, and nickel carbonyl .
At that meeting, testimony was memorialized by Diana Salisbury, a member of environmental groups such as Serpent Mount/Ohio Brush Creek Alliance and Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security and Vina Colley, a former Piketon worker and president of two environmental groups.
Ms. Salisbury read documents submitted to the committee concerning Owen Thompson, a member of a special squad who handled problems at the Portsmouth (Piketon) plant and high risk, high exposure activities, during his employment.
Prior to his death, he testified in Cincinnati. Statements were read at the 1994 D.C. meeting that had been provided to his attorney:
"I did my country wrong." Owen Thompson said that after his health problems, after what's happened to him. He said, "I did my country wrong," and listen why.
The Inco Nickel Plant was dismantled, because it was contaminated with uranium, asbestos, and nickel carbonyl. The factory was so contaminated with uranium, asbestos, and nickel carbonyl that it had to be removed from the city of Huntington, West Virginia.
One contractor died immediately during the dismantling, and another died within a few days, indicating a pretty high dose. The full account given by Owen Thompson of this incident is not even in the public record.
The documents on this project indicate that the scrap metal from the Inco plant was to be transported by truck from West Virginia to the Portsmouth site in November of 1978 through March of 1979.
Now I'm seeing stop. [Referring to directions from the committee] Okay. Now what is crucial about this incident is there was nothing done to mitigate any exposure to any of the communities where this material was being transported, and this was hauled in at night and buried at night on the plant site while machine gun guards stood over Owen Thompson.
Ms. Salisbury continued, “Now the reports don't say that [ the machine gun guards, presumably]. My point in all this is, the reports don't always tell what really happened. What's in the report sometimes is not anything like the full discussion.”
During her testimony, Salisbury stated, The Portsmouth facility is unique in both size and function. Portsmouth's mission is to convert solid uranium gas to between two and five percent for commercial reactors and to more than 93 percent for nuclear weapons programs.
WHY APPALACHIA?
During the first portion of her testimony, Salisbury explains that the thinly populated Appalachian areas appealed to the government for the nuclear plants:
“The location and function of the three Federal facilities located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio, are critical to the Committee's task. These facilities were designed to enrich uranium for military weapons and were located in rural regions of the Appalachian mountains. That is where these facilities were placed. They were put away from people. Unfortunately, we didn't get the word. We consider that we're people. The Appalachian population represents one group selected to bear the risks and burdens for the greater societal good.”
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