The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant was built in 1950 to produce enriched uranium for the military. It was government owned and operated by Union Carbide. Over the years it has acquired the reputation as a good place to contact cancer. The EPA and DOE have undertaken clean-ups with some success. Of course looking back from the advantage of 60 years of hindsight it's all to easy to be smug about some of the errors committed over the years. Yes, much of the suffering is now preventable, too bad it took so long to learn. What is not excusable is the arrogant and demeaning attitude that exits in Secretary Hilda Solis' Department of Labor. Congressman Ed Whitfield has written Solis expressing his outrage at the Labor Department following reports of a training manual that seems to make light of sick nuclear workers filing claims in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.
The manual uses generic names such as "Freddie Krueger" -- the villain in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies -- to reference those making claims. "Hannibal Lechter" is another clever moniker dreamed up by the Dept of Labor's comedy writers.
"To be frank, this is offensive," wrote Whitfield in his letter to Solis. "Kentucky's First Congressional District is home to the Department of Energy's Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.... Unfortunately, the plant carries a legacy of employees exposed to dangerous and even deadly materials and as a result, I have numerous constituents who have been required to use the EEOICPA program.... These claimants deserve for the Department of Labor to be responsive and sympathetic to their needs, and not making a mockery of their health."
My wife's uncle worked at that plant and died of cancer and I don't think it's funny either.
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