Editorial
Feds owe answers on nuclear-worker safety

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A draft audit of federal nuclear workers' on-the-job injuries has added to the cloud of questions about whether the Bush administration's policy of accelerated cleanup is cutting too many corners.

The Energy Department should move quickly to respond to the latest inspector general report, which covers 10 nuclear sites. The agency also should cooperate fully with federal and state investigations into concerns specific to the Hanford nuclear reservation in southeastern Washington. In the past two years, as many as 100 workers at Hanford's underground tank farm have complained about exposure to potentially toxic fumes with no response from their employer, according to the Government Accountability Project.

Both circumstances sound alarms about the course of the costly, difficult but altogether necessary job of cleaning up the nation's nuclear defense waste.

Under Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, the Energy Department began a program to cut drastically the nuclear cleanup program's cost and duration. While progress has been made, many of the agency's tactics, such as trying unilaterally to weaken the rules on how much waste can be left in underground tanks, have vexed regulators.

The Government Accountability Project's report last fall prompted federal and state investigations into worker safety at the site, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, is pushing for hearings.

Last month, the project released an e-mail from a medical doctor at the Hanford contractor responsible for Hanford workers' health issues, warning doctors not to encourage workers to file workers compensation claims. The e-mail, sent in 2000, noted other Hanford contractors might be penalized if they had too many claims.

The latest inspector general report raises troubling discrepancies in the number of workplace injuries the Energy Department is recording. At Hanford, contractor CH2M Hill reported 5 percent fewer injuries than actually occurred. At Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, the Energy Department reported only 166 days lost to worker injury, which is well less than half of the 463 days contractor Bechtel reported.

Contending the document is a draft, administration officials are challenging some of the audit's data and conclusions and are asking for extra time to comment.

This process should be expedited, especially because of the backdrop of the Hanford concerns.

Cleaning up the nation's nuclear defense waste is difficult, expensive and necessary. But faster, cheaper cleanup that compromises worker safety or fudges the means to track it is inexcusable.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company