04/19/01   Workers share stories about health woes
 Uranium, beryllium: Hundreds turn out for informational meeting at
Herald News
HERALD NEWS STAFF  —   JOLIET  —  Larry Kelman of Naperville
knew for the 45 years he worked at the University of Chicago and later
Argonne National Laboratory that the dust swirling around him and
other employees probably was not a good thing.

But he didn't know it would cost him the use of his lungs.
 
Barbara Bush of Joliet used to tell her husband, Earl, to shake out the
gray granules that gathered in his pants cuffs while working with
uranium as a laboratory technician at Blockson Chemical's Building 55
during the Cold War.
 
She now wonders if laundering the rest of that dust from his work
clothes contributed to the brain and bladder cancers she developed a
few years ago. Earl's doctors already have told him his Parkinson's
disease can be traced back to his work at Blockson some 45 years ago.
 
Those were just a few of the stories told by some of the more than 200
people who attended a program on a special federal compensation
package Wednesday at The Herald News.
 
The program, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris, focused
on compensation for the people who worked with, or came in contact
with, uranium and beryllium, during Cold War nuclear testing and
processing.

Compensation program
Congress last year approved the compensation package, which would
provide $150,000 to each affected worker or their surviving family
members, as well as free medical services for the workers' government
work-related illness.
 
Former President Bill Clinton expedited the program with an executive
order in December, which means the program must be up and running by
July 31. That's not a lot of time, said Kate Kimpan, senior policy adviser
for the Department of Energy's Worker Advocacy Department. And
there is much to do.
 
Clinton's executive order gives the primary responsibility of the program
to the U.S. Department of Labor, Kimpan said. But the new secretary is
asking for that duty to be reassigned, she added, and no one is sure
how that will affect the July 31 deadline.
 
What they do know, Kimpan told the group, is that the compensation
will cover some of the former employees of the former Blockson/Olin
company near Joliet; the William E. Pratt Co., formerly at Cass and
Henderson in Joliet; and some 2,300 former workers at the University of
Chicago and later Argonne.

World War II work
Some workers at Blockson/Olin and Pratt could have been exposed to
uranium. The Pratt company ground uranium rods for nuclear fuel for the
government from 1943 to 1946. The 2,300 former workers at the
University of Chicago/Argonne could have been exposed to beryllium
dust while producing casings for atomic weapons in the 1940s.
 
Beryllium is safe when the strong, lightweight non-radioactive material is
part of a golf club or otherwise whole, Kimpan said. But when it's
ground to produce the desired thickness, dangerous dust can scatter.
 
Site B was the area where Kelman worked at Argonne, the area where
there was beryllium dust all over. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic took out
part of a lung years ago, he said, and his own doctors misdiagnosed his
malady at first, saying it was not work-related. Eight years of legal
battles followed.
 
Now, Kelman receives workers compensation from the state for his
beryllium-related lung problems. Kimpan said he also would be in line to
receive the $150,000 in the compensation package, as well as the medical
benefits under that plan, or keep his current medical plan.
 
Kelman said he also was concerned about the people who didn't work in
Site B every day, but those like postal carriers who were exposed to the
dust regularly as they made deliveries there.
 
Kimpan said the compensation package also covers contractors who
may have come in contact with the dangerous materials under the
government program, whether they were uranium or beryllium.

Bush's story
While working at Blockson's Building 55 for years, Earl Bush came in
contact with uranium every day. The government noted the company
made cleaners and fertilizers out of phosphorus. Another byproduct of
phosphorus is uranium, and from 1952 to 1962, Blockson, later bought
by the Olin Corp., extracted some 2 million pounds of uranium for
government nuclear weapons testing.
  
The focus was on speed, not safety, energy experts say now. So while
Bush wore a thin white mask to help keep from breathing the dust, he
wore no gloves or any other protective gear. And though workers had
to have strict government clearance to enter Building 55, Bush may have
brought some of his work home.
 
"I remember he used to come home with this stuff in his pants cuffs,"
said his daughter, Cheryl Leone of Joliet. "My mother used to say,
'Shake off your pants before you come in.'"
 
Though a doctor has said Bush's Parkinson's disease can be traced to
the uranium exposure, so far that malady isn't on the list of ailments the
government usually associates with radiation exposure.
 
While Bush may or may not be covered under the compensation
package, Kimpan said his wife is out of luck. The package covers only
the affected workers, not family members or people who lived near the
plants. That would be up to Congress to add on someday, she added.

Thousands affected
But for now, Kimpan suggested all people who believe they qualify call
the DOE worker advocacy hot line at (877) 447-9756. It's too early to file
a claim, since the forms and regulations aren't even ready yet, she said.
But calling the number and leaving information will get workers or their
families into a national database so they can be contacted when
compensation processing is ready.
 
Kimpan also recommended the callers be patient. In the few months
since the compensation package was announced, more than 19,000
people nationwide already have called the hot line to get in the database.
 
A study commissioned by Clinton several years ago found that there
were some 10,000 workers nationwide at more than 200 companies who
could have been exposed to uranium, beryllium or silica for private
government contracts during the Cold War.
 
The issue came to light last fall when USA Today did a three-part series
after nearly a year of investigation. Since that time, The Herald News has
followed the issue from the revelation of the exposed workers to the
passage and processing of the workers compensation package. Those
stories, as well as pictures and other information can be found on The
Herald News Web site: [WEB SITE] http://www.heraldnews/focus/
 
Kimpan, along with Weller and U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Hinsdale,
whose 13th District includes Argonne, told the people at The Herald
News that they or their loved ones won the Cold War for the United
States.
 
By doing so, Weller and Biggert said, the health of the workers was put
in jeopardy.
 
"I know that no level of benefits can compensate for what you have
sacrificed in the service of our country," Biggert said. "But we must try.

... We owe you."
The DOE continues to update information on the compensation package
on its Web site: http://www.eh.doe.gov/benefits
 
http://www.copleynewspapers.com/heraldnews/top/j19uranium.htm

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