Las Vegas, NV— September 26, 2003 — Employees who visited the Nevada Test Site may have tracked beryllium into the Nevada offices of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), according to recent reports (Las Vegas Review–Journal, September 18, 2003). One NNSA office worker developed chronic beryllium disease, which is a painful scarring of the lungs caused by beryllium exposure.

After the worker became ill last year, 400 of his coworkers were checked for beryllium exposure. Medical tests indicated that 12 were sensitive to beryllium. “Beryllium sensitization” is an allergic response to beryllium that is the precursor to developing chronic beryllium disease. The NNSA closed the entire office complex as a safety precaution.

The beryllium contamination probably did not come from beryllium machining operations at the nuclear agency offices, but from contamination from the Nevada Test Site, according to NNSA spokesman Darwin Morgan. He announced that the Nevada Test Site would be investigated, focusing on an area where a spaceship nuclear reactor was once located. In the 1960s, the reactor made use of large amounts of beryllium. The investigators will also check nuclear disposal locations and nuclear testing areas.

The study will cost about $2 million and may take up to six months, Mr. Morgan said. It will be headed by Bechtel Nevada, the site's prime contractor. Lawrence Livermore laboratory in California and the Los Alamos and Sandia laboratories in New Mexico will also take part in the investigation.

Secondary Beryllium Exposure

The NNSA believes that workers who visited the Nevada Test Site carried back beryllium particles on their shoes. “Beryllium turned up in the carpets and in doorway cracks,” Morgan said (Las Vegas Review–Journal, September 18, 2003). This confirms that the risk of beryllium exposure is not limited to those working directly with the metal. Rather, the danger extends to coworkers, support or maintenance staff at a plant using beryllium, and even to a beryllium worker’s family members. For example, if the visitors to the Nevada Test Site carried beryllium into the NNSA offices, they may also have brought beryllium into their own homes.

Currently, the Department of Energy (DOE) requires a level of not more than 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of airborne beryllium during an 8–hour shift for DOE workers and federal contractors (Final rule, 10 CFR 850, Dec. 8, 1999). The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) allows 2 micrograms per cubic meter of beryllium for other workers, an amount ten times higher than the DOE level. Good ventilation, air monitoring, protective clothing, and respirators can minimize beryllium exposure. Change rooms and decontamination procedures may limit the spread of beryllium from the workplace into the worker’s home or other areas. However, whether one adheres to the DOE or OSHA standards, there is still no safe level of exposure to beryllium—even minimal amounts may cause chronic beryllium disease (National Jewish and Medical Research Center).

Testing for Chronic Beryllium Disease

After an initial exposure to beryllium, certain individuals may develop chronic beryllium disease in a time frame that ranges from about three months to within 40 years. Early symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, fevers, skin rash, and night sweats, followed by lung scarring. In severe cases, the heart becomes strained due to increased pressure in the pulmonary artery from lung damage. At present, chronic beryllium disease may be treated, by not cured. See Chronic Beryllium Disease Treatment for details.

Physicians diagnose chronic beryllium disease by using a combination of chest x-rays, a pulmonary function test, and a blood test called a “beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test” or BeLPT. The BeLPT examines how disease–fighting cells known as lymphocytes react to beryllium. If these cells react strongly, then the BeLPT is considered abnormal and indicates an allergic reaction to beryllium associated with the development of chronic beryllium disease. Some physicians believe that a bronchoscopy helps in making a definitive diagnosis of chronic beryllium disease (Appl Occup Environ Hyg. 2001 May; 16(5): 514-20). A bronchoscopy is an examination of the air passages of the lungs. The physician inserts a bronchoscope or flexible tube into the windpipe, taking appropriate samples for later diagnosis.

Beryllium exposure also increases the risk of developing lung cancer, according to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. For more information, see Beryllium Diseases. For details about occupations in which workers and their families are most at risk for beryllium exposure, see Industries and Occupations. If you were exposed to beryllium and developed chronic beryllium disease, please feel free to contact us to discuss your legal rights. We have extensive experience representing victims of chronic beryllium disease, and are well–known and respected in this area of law.