Workers Tested With Uranium, Paper Says

Some workers at a federal uranium processing plant in Paducah, Ky., participated in experiments in the 1950s that had them breathing the radioactive element, the Courier-Journal of Louisville reported. Some of the participants at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant volunteered for the tests, but some may not have been informed of the dangers, according to a draft report by the Department of Energy on an investigation of health, safety and environmental problems at the western Kentucky plant. In one experiment, staff members volunteered to breathe a radioactive gas to see how quickly uranium was excreted in their urine, according to the report. In some tests, a senior staffer drank a solution containing uranium, and at least 14 workers tested the effectiveness of respirators against radioactive dust, gas and smoke, according to the report.