Letter: Most of Hanford health problems not caused by radiation

Mary Armatis’ Feb. 18 letter, “Hanford workers were not always told the level of exposure,” had two items I took issue with.

1) She didn’t know her exposure, and 2) the allowable exposure was 100 times the current limits.

To get into high-radiation areas, workers were required to take training. Plus they were given special badges that had to be read monthly, in addition to the normal yearly, with reports to follow. Exposure was also followed and weekly limits were less than a tenth of the yearly exposure for those working in a high-radiation area. Each job required radiation exposure estimates and ways to minimize the worker exposure.

The limits may have come down since I retired 20 years ago, but 100 times lower seems too much. From her comments, she must have been in the 200E area and anyone in an area where there was suspected to be an uncontrolled release of radioactive particles would be evaluated.

Comment: Most of Hanford’s health problems come from industrial hazards like asbestos, beryllium, and other things like lead poisoning other than radiation.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Letter: Most of Hanford health problems not caused by radiation."