SoylentNews

Grand Canyon Tourists Exposed for Years to Uranium Ore Radiation in Museum Building

posted by martyb on Friday February 22 2019, @03:42AM   
from the public-sievert dept.

Snow writes:

Grand Canyon tourists exposed for years to radiation in museum building, safety manager says

For nearly two decades at the Grand Canyon, tourists, employees, and children on tours passed by three paint buckets stored in the National Park's museum collection building, unaware that they were being exposed to radiation.

Although federal officials learned last year that the 5-gallon containers were brimming with uranium ore, then removed the radioactive specimens, the park's safety director alleges nothing was done to warn park workers or the public that they might have been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation.

In a rogue email sent to all Park Service employees on Feb. 4, Elston "Swede" Stephenson — the safety, health and wellness manager — described the alleged cover-up as "a top management failure" and warned of possible health consequences.

[...] Stephenson said the containers were stored next to a taxidermy exhibit, where children on tours sometimes stopped for presentations, sitting next to uranium for 30 minutes or more. By his calculation, those children could have received radiation dosages in excess of federal safety standards within three seconds, and adults could have suffered dangerous exposure in less than a half-minute.

Also at NPR.

---

Original Submission

• Re:Doesn't even pass smell test Re:Doesn't even pass smell test (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 22 2019, @05:35AM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 22 2019, @05:35AM (#804898)

  Just to reply to myself, FTFA,

  This isn't Stephenson's first time raising alarms about a dangerous working environment, the Republic reports:

          "Stephenson, a military veteran who is certified as an occupational safety and health technician, was in a similar controversy during his time in the Navy. According to court records, he began calling for action to prevent falls after a series of accidents in 2016.

          "As complaints escalated, Stephenson was fired. He turned to the Office of Special Counsel, a federal agency that protects whistleblowers, and his termination was stayed. It is unclear how that case was resolved, but within months, Stephenson had a new job with the National Park Service.

          "Stephenson said the uranium exposure saga developed while he was pursuing a racial-discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity office. Stephenson is African-American."

  So, an alarmist gets attention from a newspaper because "think of the children". His history of pointless escalations is kind of a warning to avoid this guy. I mean, the dude's child is carrying a Geiger counter! At first I thought that maybe it was some sciency child, but now it's probably coming from the panicky father.

  Considering that you have uranium in ground water and food (because it's everywhere in the ground) ... yeah, fear the uranium in a bucket .... next up, asbestos ore exhibit in geology museum because it wasn't in a bomb-proof box?

  Parent

  Starting Score:	0		points
  Moderation		+1
  Informative=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Informative' Modifier		0
  Total Score:		1

• Re:Doesn't even pass smell test (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday February 22 2019, @07:50PM

  by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday February 22 2019, @07:50PM (#805275) Journal

  He's the freaking Safety manager. Sounding alarms IS THE JOB!

  And also, falls are the #1 cause of workplace fatalities. Trying to prevent fatalities is also a rather important part of being a Safety manager.

  Parent