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This got overlooked because of the pandemic. The contractors had no training and no radiation detection equipment. Even an FBI agent was contaminated. It's just horrifying. I don't buy the assurances of safety from UW.
In May 2019, radiation leaked from a device at Harborview Research and Training. At first called a “minor” breach, investigators warn it could have been much worse.
Author: Chris Ingalls
Published: 6:57 PM PDT May 20, 2020
Updated: 7:00 PM PDT May 23, 2020
SEATTLE — A March report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says a radiation leak at the Harborview Research and Training Building one year ago was “preventable” and “a near miss to a significant event” that could have devastated the Seattle area.
“It is a wake-up call for all of us,” said Dr. Jacob Kamen, a radiation expert at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, who reviewed the 175-page report at KING 5’s request.
When radiation leaked from a medical device that a contractor was decommissioning on May 2, 2019 it was called a “minor” breach at the time.
But the DOE investigationrevealed a stunning lack of oversight by federal regulators and a federally licensed contractor who pushed “…mission completion over safe conduct.”
Greg Wolf, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which led the investigation, said the report was meant to be blunt so the same safety breakdowns would not happen again.
“In this joint investigation NNSA took an unflinching look at the incident and concluded that it was preventable. It was largely a result of weak and partially implemented oversight processes,” Wolf said.
The contractor, International Isotopes of Idaho Falls, was hired to remove and safely transport for disposal a capsule of radioactive Cesium 137, the same nuclear product produced in the Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine in 1986...
In May 2019, radiation leaked from a device at Harborview Research and Training. At first called a “minor” breach, investigators warn it could have been much worse.
Author: Chris Ingalls
Published: 6:57 PM PDT May 20, 2020
Updated: 7:00 PM PDT May 23, 2020
SEATTLE — A March report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says a radiation leak at the Harborview Research and Training Building one year ago was “preventable” and “a near miss to a significant event” that could have devastated the Seattle area.
“It is a wake-up call for all of us,” said Dr. Jacob Kamen, a radiation expert at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, who reviewed the 175-page report at KING 5’s request.
When radiation leaked from a medical device that a contractor was decommissioning on May 2, 2019 it was called a “minor” breach at the time.
But the DOE investigationrevealed a stunning lack of oversight by federal regulators and a federally licensed contractor who pushed “…mission completion over safe conduct.”
Greg Wolf, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which led the investigation, said the report was meant to be blunt so the same safety breakdowns would not happen again.
“In this joint investigation NNSA took an unflinching look at the incident and concluded that it was preventable. It was largely a result of weak and partially implemented oversight processes,” Wolf said.
The contractor, International Isotopes of Idaho Falls, was hired to remove and safely transport for disposal a capsule of radioactive Cesium 137, the same nuclear product produced in the Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine in 1986...