Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-85-111-1770: Feed Materials Production Center; Fernald, Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Flesch, Jerome P. ; Moss, C. Eugene ; Smith, James M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request by the Director of Health, State of Ohio, a hazard evaluation was made at the Feed Materials Production Center (SIC-2819), Fernald, Ohio to explore possible worker exposure to uranium (7440611) (U) releases. During an accident, approximately 270 to 370 pounds of uranium-oxide (19525156) had been released. All potentially exposed workers underwent an assay by a whole-body counting system to determine the body content of uranium. All workers had a lung burden of uranium less than the maximum permissible level. Four workers were also examined by an in-vivo monitoring system to verify the results obtained with the other method. The values for U-235 (15117961) found by the in-vivo method were higher by a factor of 2 to 20 over those reported by the whole-body counting system. In one case the level was equivalent to a factor of about twice the maximum permissible lung burden. All values for U-238 were below the detection level. The authors conclude that the uranium releases did not result in excessive body uranium content. The authors recommend that the Center use a permanent in-vivo assay facility for frequent, accurate monitoring of possible worker exposures to radionuclides. Lung counting should be performed semiannually for a period of several years. More radiation safety measures should be taught to the employees. A reevaluation should be made of the need for respiratory protection for machinists who machine uranium ingots.
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-85-111-1770 Industrial Inorganic Chemicals, Not Elsewhere Classified In Vivo Radiation Monitoring NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 5 Radioactive-contamination Radioactive-isotopes Radioactivity Uranium Whole-body-counters Whole Body Counting

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA851111770
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  30 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Dickerson, Nadine ; Johnston, Christine
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00169486
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB87-206587
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 85-111-1770, 1987 Jan ; :1-27
• CAS Registry Number:
  Uranium (CAS RN 7440-61-1) ; Uranium peroxide (CAS RN 12036-71-4) ; Uranium-235 (CAS RN 15117-96-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2819 - Industrial inorganic chemicals, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e5943198d0d233738227e38bde932d4cdd5490e07eaed1376b2ecd86a4eafd622425fbdf2db5987e8cf20c2c80e788e3b6f0ce76f5bfaaa4ddb917dc19b2223d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172120/cdc_172120_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.08 MB ]