Nov. 30, 2000
U.S. to seek extension in uranium case
Government still deciding whether to join lawsuit
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2000/0011/30/001130uranium.html
By JAMES MALONE
The Courier-Journal
 
PADUCAH, Ky. -- Federal prosecutors will seek a fourth extension of a slow-paced Justice Department investigation into whether to join a lawsuit against former operators of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

Bill Campbell, an assistant to U.S. Attorney Steve Reed, said an extension to March would be requested today, the latest deadline for the department to disclose its intentions.

Federal law requires the Justice Department to investigate claims raised in whistleblower lawsuits that allege fraud against the government. The department also has the option of joining such suits as a plaintiff and sharing in any financial recovery.

"It may seem like it's taken a long time, but it's not unusual," Reed said of the lengthy investigation. ". . . It's very sensitive and very historical in that there has been a lot of turnover (of operators)."

Filed under seal in U.S. District Court at Paducah in June 1999, the suit alleged that two companies that ran the government's uranium-separation plant for nearly 50 years covered up environmental problems and health issues to obtain financial bonuses.

The amount of damages claimed has never been specified. But Joseph Egan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the total could run into the tens of millions of dollars.

Egan has said damages are difficult to determine because the plaintiffs -- three current or former plant workers and the Washington-based environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council -- do not know the full amount that the Department of Energy and its predecessors paid Union Carbide, Martin Marietta and its successor, Lockheed Martin, to enrich uranium at the plant and to monitor and protect the environment.

Three times previously, federal prosecutors have asked for an extension to decide whether to join the suit: in July 1999, November 1999 and April.

In the interim, authorities have conducted a detailed investigation into the suit's allegations. Reed characterized the probe as "massive, in which we have expended an extreme amount of time and resources." He said the government would spend whatever was required to verify or disprove the suit's claims.

Few details have emerged about the specifics of the probe. People who say they were interviewed by investigators reported being asked about production processes and waste streams, and at various times the government has dug parts of an old landfill and posted armed guards outside records vaults at the plant.

Several retired plant employees said in interviews that they accompanied prosecutors on tours of some older buildings. Others said they were shown logs of waste-treatment and equipment cleaning operations in which plutonium frequently was detected in the waste stream in the 1970s and '80s.

Campbell said the government has interviewed several hundred people and has reviewed a large number of the estimated 30 million pages of records at the plant. He said he thinks the investigation is nearing the end.

Last spring, the Justice Department began the first of four test excavations outside the plant's fence looking for improperly buried waste. Officials said they did not encounter any unexpected results in the digs, which collectively cost $1.4 million.

One aspect of the investigation emerged in a Texas lawsuit between two nuclear waste disposal companies, Waste Control Specialists and Envirocare.

David Siefken, a consultant and expert in groundwater movement and geology who has worked for Waste Control Specialists, testified in a Sept. 28 deposition that he also is working for the Justice Department in the Paducah probe under a confidentiality agreement.

Pressed about his tasks by a lawyer for Envirocare, Siefken answered, "We're doing a series of site studies related to the presence of contaminants in uncontrolled, unrestricted areas which would be the major focus of our investigation."

DOEWatch List ---- A Magnum-Opus Project ---
Subscribe: http://www.onelist.com
DOEWatch page:  http://members.aol.com/doewatch

Oak Ridge and its' industry minions use supplanted activist organizations to hide HF emission/toxic effects and nuclear human experiment war crimes.

Oak Ridge and other gas diffusion sites are primarily Bhopal like chemical affected areas and secondarily a Chernobyl like radiation affected area.  Gas diffusion sites are also affected with high coal power emissions and compounded with heavy metal toxins and hundreds of other toxic exposure from the plants.

These exposures cause shortened longevity, impacted learning, and produce a gullible population for political and industry profiting.

Gulf War affected have related fluoride toxic effects from nerve gases.

In common with GW and DOE gas diffusion ills are long term halogen toxic insult via bioconcentration into the lymphatic system, impairment of macrophages, and damage to mitochondria of cells resulting in immune protection damage and resultant rise of viral, bacterial, microplasma, and fungal cell damage.

In the new millenium, the truth will set all  free to enter a kinder and gentler time for environment and health.