SRS Employees Disciplined for Falsifying Records in Exposure Cases

Paraphrased by
Steve Waldrop

Three workers at the Savannah River Site were exposed to excess levels of radiation, and five employees have been disciplined after records of the incident were falsified.

The incident at the former nuclear weapons complex involved workers who were exposed to radiation while removing material from a glove box used to treat and hold plutonium.The three employees received radiation doses of 700, 400 and 200 millirems of radiation, said Will Callicott, a Westinghouse spokesman.

Employees at SRS can receive up to 1,500 millirems of radiation annually before the company issues a review.

"In this incident, three of our fellow workers received radiation doses that were higher than expected for the job they were performing," Westinghouse Savannah River Co. President Robert Pedde wrote Monday in a letter to employees.


"While these doses were below DOE limits, and well below any level that would cause an adverse health impact, the doses were entirely unnecessary in the amounts received," Pedde said, adding that proper safety procedures were not followed.

"This is prohibited conduct, and leaves little room for mitigating disciplinary action," Pedde said. "Truthful documentation is at the heart of our processes, and when the integrity of our processes is attacked, safety is put in jeopardy."

Westinghouse would not disclose the specifics of the employee discipline. "However, I want there to be no doubt that willful violations of established procedures and dishonest acts will have serious personal consequences for the people involved, Pedde said.

The Doe is monitoring Westinghouse's review and corrective action. The agency may decide to perform its own investigation, spokesman Jim Giusti said.

Westinghouse Savannah River Co. manages and operates the U.S. Department of Energy's site.