The U.S.Department of Energy (DOE), on Thursday, released studies on the movement of recycled uranium through nine different sites across the United States, one of them being the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

In an effort to become more independent of foreign sources of uranium, DOE's forerunner, the Atomic Energy Commission, decided that chemical separation plants should recover uranium from spent nuclear fuel. In the late 1950s, this recycled uranium was shipped to the Portsmouth plant, as well plants in Paducah, Kentucky and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and was used for fuel and military applications.

"Recycled uranium is slightly more radioactive than mined uranium because it has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor," said the DOE report.  "It contains traces of plutonium and other radioactive isotopes ( such as neptunium and technetium) that are not completely removed by the chemical separation plant process."

The uranium exchanged hands often between gaseous diffusion plants and was sometimes blended with mined uranium, increasing the total amount.  A ' recycled uranium" category was never present in DOE records.

DOE began studying the flow of the material in September 1999 after workers at the Paducah plant voiced their concerns about the handling of recycled uranium.  The energy department took several actions to expand medical surveillance of those exposed and review option for compensating them for occupational illness.

 According to a DOE site specific report on the Portsmouth plant, it was reveled that potential workers exposure to technetium 99 present in recycled uranium have occurred from equipment at the X705 oxide conversion building as well cascade facilities.

 "The oxide conversion facility didn't run right," said Vina Colley, president of Portsmouth/Piketon Resident for Environmental Safety and Security (PRESS).  "They had to shut it down because the workers were being exposed to too much plutonium and technetium. Colley, a former electrician at the plant from 1980 to 1985, explained that in the 1960's exposure levels of certain workers were so great that the individuals were sent to the Oak Ridge, Tennessee site for decontamination.

"If you look at the workforce, most workers I worked with have gotten sick and died of cancer,' "There is no way any of the workers can protect themselves because the contaminants are airborne and widespread."

DOE has retrieved historical records in order to create site-specific studies.  Unfortunately, inconsistencies with documentation  among different plant sites have made it difficult for the energy department to come up with an accurate total calculation of recycled uranium amounts. DOE's Office of Plutonium, Uranium and Special Materials Inventory will conduct a follow-on study on the issue.

"The department transfers uranium, including recycled uranium, throughout the  DOE complex for the purpose of consolidation and disposal," said DOE Spokesperson Dollie Hatchet. DOE's material control and accountability system accurately tracks the inventory and transaction uranium."