Cantwell pushes to revive Hanford screening

By Cara Solomon
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell gives a hug to Hanford employee Virginia Wallace yesterday. At right is Jenny's husband, Steve Wallace. Cantwell met with current and former Hanford workers yesterday.

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By the time they call in to the clinic, so many of the former Hanford workers are worried. They have heard about the damage that may, or may not, have happened to their bodies, all those years ago at the nuclear complex.

But they have not heard the latest news: Their medical screening program is in the process of being shut down.

"Hundreds of people are not getting anything other than, 'Call this 1-800 Number,' " said Dr. Tim Takaro, director of the Former Hanford Workers Medical Screening Program, where screening hasn't occurred since May. "You can imagine that would be pretty frustrating, especially when you're sick."

Flanked by former workers from Hanford, Sen. Maria Cantwell said at a news conference in Seattle yesterday that she would block a federal appointment to the Department of Energy this week unless she received assurances that the program would survive.

The program, run by the University of Washington, is set to expire next March. But the DOE is already dismantling it in favor of a new plan: a centralized support program that would have former workers start by calling an 800 number.

"These people gave their time, their energy and their lives to help this country," said Cantwell. "They deserve more than a 1-800 number."

Cantwell said she has already had discussions with the nominee, John Shaw, about the UW program. Shaw serves as deputy chief of staff at the DOE.

As a sitting member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Cantwell will vote this week on his confirmation to the post of Assistant Secretary for Environmental Health and Safety.

Officials from the Department of Energy could not be reached for comment yesterday. But according to the department Web site, the DOE considers a new, "customer-focused" program to be the best option for former workers at the nuclear sites it monitors across the country.

In 1996, the DOE began contracting out medical-screening services near the nuclear sites across the country. The University of Washington got the contract for the Hanford site.
 
But some sites never received screening services, the Web site said. The new program would involve one contractor for all the sites, rather than regional programs.

"A nationwide program is considered the most effective way to guarantee that all former DOE workers are offered the opportunity to participate and will be served consistently across the complex," the text reads.

The DOE says its program will be up and running next month. But Cantwell's office says it is clear that a contractor has yet to be identified.

There were an estimated 250,000 former Hanford workers who helped produce plutonium at the Hanford complex for atomic weapons. The UW has located 20,500.

From that pool, more than 5,400 were identified as having had hazardous exposures. About 2,000 have been screened, Takaro said, and nearly 1,200 showed evidence of disease related to their occupation.

Mary Armatis, who appeared with Cantwell at the news conference, traced her thyroid cancer back to 1980, when a canister of plutonium exploded while she was working.

It took two more decades for thyroid cancer to grow inside her. But Armatis, 46, says that when it did, her local physician missed the signs, not realizing a thyroid problem could be linked to her work.

A visit to the clinic three months later, and there it was: the diagnosis of cancer.

"They know what to look for, they know what to ask," said Armatis, who had the lump removed in 2000 and has been cancer-free ever since. "It could have been much worse for me."

A worker at Hanford for the past 14 years, Virginia Wallace, 39, talked yesterday about the need for the UW program, carried out at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, to include current employees of Hanford. Wallace said she recently found out she has pre-cancerous lesions on her thyroid gland.

There are now thousands of people working to clean up the nuclear waste at the Hanford complex.

A recent study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported that chemical vapors may put workers at significantly higher risk for health problems. But they do not have access to the program at Harborview.

Cara Solomon: 206-464-2024 or csolomon@seattletimes.com