Reid asks for probe in case of ex-Yucca workers’ dust hazards

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2004 | 10:24 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has asked the Labor Department to look into silicosis problems among former Yucca Mountain Project workers, after the Energy Department admitted it did not require certain safety precautions even though it knew dangerous silica levels were present.

In a letter sent to Reid Tuesday, Margaret Chu, director of the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, wrote that the Energy Department knew silica could become airborne during mining operations at the Yucca Mountain Project. Mining work started in 1992 and tunnel boring operations began in 1994, but the department did not enforce respiratory protection equipment use until 1996, Chu said.

In January the Energy Department started a screening program for former Yucca Mountain Project workers to see if they contract silicosis, a disease contracted from scar tissue forming in the lungs due to inhaled silica.

Based on Chu's letter, Reid asked Labor Secretary Elaine Chao Wednesday to investigate the risk at Yucca Mountain and what steps could have been taken to prevent harmful exposure.

"The DOEs policy of self-regulation, to the extent it enforced worker health standards, has apparently failed to ensure the proper safety of its contractor work force," Reid wrote.

The Labor Department controls the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which oversee worker safety in industrial and mining workplaces.

Reid asked Chu if the department has ever recommended any type of health protection requirements at Yucca Mountain and if it now helps the Energy Department monitor air quality or other worker health issues.

He also wants to know what type of respiratory protection were available from 1992 through 1996 and if paper dust masks are "considered a sufficient form of protection against silica exposure."

Reid also wants to hold a congressional hearing on the issue, according to his office.

The Energy Department dug a tunnel through Yucca Mountain as part of it research for the planned nuclear waste storage site it wants to open there.