Nuclear workers forced to move

Tuesday, July 9, 2002 | 9:21 a.m.

The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to evacuate 450 employees from a North Las Vegas office complex after traces of a metal used in nuclear weapons was found in the complex.

General Manager Kathleen Carlson announced the move Monday to Bechtel and IT workers, all contracted by the Nuclear Security Administration. The employees began occupying offices in the complex after 1995.

Tests earlier this year revealed traces of beryllium, a metal used in nuclear weapons, Nuclear Security spokesman Darwin Morgan said. The air and swiped samples indicated levels of the metal well below federal workplace standards, he said.

One office worker has chronic lung disease from exposure to beryllium dust and three others have sensitivity to the metal, Morgan said.

So far 102 employees in North Las Vegas have volunteered to be screened for beryllium sensitivity, which is an immune system response to the metal, Morgan said. Sensitivity to the metal does not mean a worker will develop the disease.

"You've got to do the right thing for the peace of mind of the people, for the safety of the people," Morgan said. "So we are going ahead and moving the people out."

The employees will be moved either to offices at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, or to leased offices nearby, Morgan said. Administrators are drawing up a plan for an orderly move, he said. The first workers will leave in about a month. The move will be completed before the end of the year.

Last week the Nuclear Security Administration brought in outside experts to review the situation. After that, Carlson decided to empty the complex.

Once the employees are gone, the administration will decide whether to clean up the complex or tear it down, Morgan said.

The building had been used to mill beryllium metal until the early 1990s.

Once former President George Bush stopped nuclear weapons experiments at the Test Site in 1992, the Department of Energy, which manages the nuclear tests, cleaned the building of solvents and chemicals, Morgan said. There were no cleanup standards for beryllium in 1995 when the cleanup was completed, he said.

The Energy Department has had problems with beryllium at other sites, such as Hanford in Washington and Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The first beryllium exposure standards were published by the Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor to the Energy Department, in 1949. Later the Occupational Safety and Health Administration adopted them.