Sen. Reid demands answers on Yucca silicosis illnesses

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 | 9:47 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Some former Yucca Mountain workers are sick with the chronic lung disease silicosis, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., wants to know what the Energy Department knew about their exposure to dangerous materials that cause the sickness.

Earlier this month, the department created a $500,000 silicosis screening program for workers who help dig tunnels at Yucca Mountian, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as part of its research for plans to store 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste there. Department officials said workers may not have had the most up-to-date safety protection available between 1992 and 2000.

"It seems the Department of Energy has once again risked health and safety to push through the Yucca Mountain project," Reid said Thursday. "They are trying to sell us a bill of goods that the project is safe, and meanwhile some of their own workers may have contracted a fatal illness from working at the site. We cannot trust a word they say about the safety of the project."

In a letter sent to Energy Secretary Spencer Abrahm Thursday, Reid asks what steps the department took to protect workers against silica and whether the department knew about the high levels of the mineral in the mountain.

"I am pleased that the Department of Energy initiated the silicosis screening program to provide free health screenings and to locate and notify workers who may have had long-term, repeated exposure to airborne silica," Reid wrote. "I am disturbed, however, that the DOE appears to have lacked adequate safety precautions to protect workers at the site."

Reid also wants to know what the department will do for workers who test positive for silicosis from their work at the mountain.