Former nuclear plant workers dying rapidly

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Former nuclear plant workers dying rapidlyThursday, March 13, 2008 Former nuclear worker Robert "Dave" Bossard is seeking justice for former Pinellas Plant workers. PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Dozens of people who worked at the highly classified General Electric facility in Largo known as the Pinellas Plant have died, and many more are sick.Workers at the plant manufactured atomic and hydrogen bomb components. "If half the people had known that down the road -- at 50 years of age -- they were going to get cancer, I don't think they would have worked out there," former nuclear worker Robert "Dave" Bossard said. Bossard has been battling the government for the past three years.When operations at the plant shut down in the late 1990s, the almost 100 acres eventually became the county's Young-Rainey Star Center.The site, which is owned by Pinellas County, is now home to almost three dozen business, including a day care center."Nothing above ground is at risk," Paul Sacco with Pinellas County said. "The only activity that's going is chemical, groundwater remediation that the Department of Energy is responsible for."But Sacco did say several areas are fenced off due to contamination.According to a U.S. Department of Energy report, "parts of the site are contaminated with organic solvents and metals used during the manufacture of neutron generators and other devices" and "contamination exists in the subsurface.""For 26 years we worked with all these chemicals -- toxins and resins -- without Material Safety Data Sheets," Bossard said. "We didn't know what we were working with."More InformationWatch the story E-mail TV Reporter Carol MinnThe former nuclear workers thought the passage of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act in 2001 meant they would get some financial reprieve for their medical care.Bossard estimated only about 5 percent of more than 1,000 former Pinellas Plant workers received anything, and at most a partial benefit."People are dying of cancer as we speak, and I'm tired of going to funerals," Bossard said.Bossard has also had bouts with cancer."I've got beryllium sensitivity," he said. "I've had several cancers cut out of my ear. I've got it burned off my hands."Bossard and other survivors have now joined the Nuclear Workers of Florida, actively seeking justice."These people were cold war heroes," Bossard said. "They worked with nuclear materials. They put their lives on the line."Several federal officials, including an ombudsman to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, met with the Nuclear Workers of Florida recently.Former workers have said if no resolution results that they will take the battle to Washington D.C.The Young-Rainey Star Center was the first U.S. Department of Energy site in the country to transition into a successful commercial development.http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2008/3/13/332158.html# «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»Paranormal_Research - Scientific Data, Health Conspiracies & Anything Strange Paranormal_ResearchSubscribe:... Paranormal_Research-