Tennessee lab says eight workers exposed to radiation, no health threat

[Buster's Uncle]

Tennessee lab says eight workers exposed to radiation, no health threat
Reuters
By Timothy Ghianni  53 minutes ago



NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - Eight nuclear workers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory were exposed to radiation in August while working on a classified project, a spokesman for the facility said on Monday, adding the exposure was well below minimum thresholds.

The radiation was airborne and none of the workers lost any work time as a result of the exposure, said David Keim, communications director for the U.S. government-affiliated scientific research facility in the eastern Tennessee city of Oak Ridge.

"It was an unexpected uptake, which we never want to have, but fortunately the levels were low, well below even the threshold at which we would have been required to report the incident to the Department of Energy," Keim said.

The lab did report the Aug. 25 incident to the Department of Energy, but the actual exposure level was less than half of what is required for reporting to DOE, he said.

"We thoroughly reviewed what happened to make sure it doesn't happen again," Keim said.

The advocacy group Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance said Oak Ridge officials historically have downplayed radiation leaks.

(Reporting by Timothy Ghianni; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Mark Guarino and Eric Beech)


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