GSI stolen Ra-226 plumb bob

(b) The presence of twin radium-226 sources at GSI for at least the covered period from
October 1, 1952 through December 31, 1962 means that NIOSH is required to bound with
sufficient accuracy the radon gas inhalation dose for all those years. This has not been done
even though the TBD-6000 work group was aware of the plumb bob (i.e., radium-226) incident/s
since 2006-2007, and of the probable presence of radon gas since October 2010 based on Dr.
Ziemer's remarks quoted above.

Board precedent is strong that radon is a separate source term (see Blockson Chemical
and Texas City Chemicals SECs) that must be bounded with sufficient accuracy nder OCAS-IG-
003. This has not been done at GSI. We know from NRC 201-0012 that both Nuclear
Consultants Corp. and St. Louis Testing Laboratories both alleged they carried out leak tests on
GSI sources. However, to my knowledge no corroborating records have been found that this
was actually done.

Plausibly bounding radon gas from possibly leaking Ra-226 sources at GSI from
10/1/52-12/31/62 at GSI still must be done in order for NIOSH and the TBD-6000 work group
to properly and responsibly revise GSI site-specific Appendix Rev 0 (June 2007).

(c) The oft quoted GSI AEC license assertion about the pre-1963 last two decades by

eo _*_. that AEC dose limits had not been exceeded and averaged
25% of the AEC limits conflicts sharply with Dr. Ziemer’s assertion in the last two lines quoted
above that, “So, yes, and they weren’t subject to any legal dose limits.” Nine Board
members who voted to deny SEC-00105 on 12/11/12 erred in accepting the GSI oo.
statement as established facts, when Dr. Ziemer had asserted 2 years and 3 months earlier that
no AEC legal timits existed during the Radium-226 era (1952-1962) at GSI.

In previous papers, Dan McKeel has repeatedly inquired of NIOSH and SC&A the
source document for the AEC limits they allude to in reference tothe: AEC
license statement about never exceeding and averaging 25% of then current (pre-1963) “AEC”
radiation safety limits at GSI. Surely, an uncovered Ra-226 source, a plumb bob, that was
missing for at least a week, was sufficient to cause a serious overdose breach of even today's
stricter radiation limits allowed for the public by the NRC and other US Governmental agencies.
Mr iand-Mr. nust have been aware of the Ra-226 plumb bob stolen/misplaced
source incidences, and thus knew their license statement was not true. Noteworthy is an
allegation by a GSI clerk who remembers the stolen plumb bob incident described in the
October 27, 1953, issue of the Edwardsville Intelligencer newspaper. That clerk, who is stilt
alive, remembers the exposed person who removed the plumb bob got sick, was hospitalized


GSI stolen Ra-226 plumb bob

Footnotes:

1. As of March 12, 2013, it is still not known with certainty whether or how or when the
missing GSI radium plumb bob source was found and returned to GSI. One part time GSI
radiographer and laboratory worker indicated he became aware of the plumb bob incident after
returning to GSI from military service in about 1956 or 1957. This corroborates the date of the
incident as being consistent with 1953.

2. The Oct. 27, 1953 UPI newspaper article also refutes Drs. Ziemer and Anigstein's Oct.
12, 2010, TBD-6000 WG testimony that the stolen plumb bob was an “urban legend” (PLZ) or
happened at a different site than GSI (RA). The meeting transcript states:

TBD-6000 work group transcript, pages 146-147
TUESDAY
OCTOBER 12, 2010 (quote begins)

DR. ANIGSTEIN: So, this was 13

hearsay. Everyone who talked about it heard it 14
from someone else. 15

CHAIRMAN ZIEMER: Well, it may or 16

may not have been urban legend

DR. ANIGSTEIN: And this apparently 19

happened -- either it happened more than once. 20
As you say, an urban legend, it happened 21
someplace else, at another time, and simply got 22
CHAIRMAN ZIEMER: Well, in any 2

event, its pretty clear that radium wasn't 3
regulated.

But you're quite right: it wouldn't have been 14
regulated by AEC in those days, nor was there a 15
state agency to regulate it. 16

This is true not only of 17

radiographers in those days, but medical 18
applications as well. I was not aware that 19
people tried to bleed off the helium. The point 20
I was making on the helium build up was that 21
often led to leaking sources. So, radium 22
sources became a source of external 1
contamination very common in those kind of 2
facilities for there to be leaking sources that 3
contaminated the surfaces with radon daughter 4
products as the radon gas leaked out of the 5
source. 6

So, yes, they weren't subject to any 7

legal dose limits.

(transcript quote ends)

There are multiple take away key points in this verbatim testimony:
(a) The 10/27/1953 newspaper article proves this episode was not merely “hearsay” or

in “urban legend.” The work group erred in dismissing and not taking action on this information.

-3-


GSI stolen Ra-226 plumb bob

and died as a result of radiation injury. McKeel are attempting to confirm that
story in local Illinois newspapers.

Respectfully submitted to NIOSH, Docket 140, the ABRWH, and SC&A on March 12,
201

McKeel Contact Information:

Daniel W. McKeel, Jr., M.D.

Founding member, SINEW

SEC co-petitioner at GSI, Dow Madison
and Texas City Chemicals


Dragon, Karen E. (CDC/NIOSHIEID)

From: DanMcKee!” ~ a

Sent: Tuesday, Marcn 12, 2013 11:57 AM

To: NIOSH Docket Office (CDC)

Ce: danmckeel

Subject: Fwd Docket 140: GSI radium plumb bob 1953 newspaper story implications
Attachments: GSI radium plumb bob 1953 newspaper story implications

Dear Docket 140 officer,

Attachment: <TheGS!StolenRadium-F.pdf> 2.9 MB

| would appreciate your consideration of placing this important cover letter and attached e-mail as an entry under Docket
140 on the DCAS website. The subject matter is administrative review of the GSI SEC-00105. Thank you very much.

-- Dan McKee! 3/12/13

In a message dated 3/12/13 10:47:59 AM, DanMcKeel: '~ . writes:

Stuart Hinnefeld (DCAS Director)

David Allen (DCAS)

Jim Neton (DCAS)

Ted Katz (DFO for the ABRWH)

Paul Ziemer (chair, TBD-6000 work group)
John Mauro (SC&A)

March 12, 2013

Attachment: <The GS! Stolen Radium-F.pdf> 2.9 MB -- Ted Katz, please circulate this file to all ABRWH members.
Thank you.

Gentlemen,

The attached 5 page PDF file directly affects the future work of NIOSH in formulating with the TBD-6000 work group and
SC8A a revised GSI Appendix BB to replace Rev o (June 2007). There are several important implications. The plumb bob
refers to radium-226 sources, not cobalt-60. The UPI reports states the GSI radium source was missing for a week. DR.
Ziemer noted in October 2010 that radium sources leak and that radon, which has not been bounded at GSI, escapes.
The newspaper story from the Edwardsville (IL) Intelligencer newspaper dated Oct. 27, 1953, indicates the plumb bob
incident at GSI was not an urban legend and did not occur at some site other than GSI. Note also that Dr. Ziemer says in
the Oct. 12, 2010 TBD-6000 WG transcript that (AEC) legal dose limits do not apply to radium sources, so the

___ 8tatements that AEC dose limits were never exceeded at GSI cannot be accurate. The incident did
occur at GS! in October 1953, and NIOSH has to be plausibly bound the dose with sufficient accuracy, since more than a
single person was undoubtedly exposed. This will be difficult to do, since there are still many unknown variables
associated with the stolen/missing radium source incident at GSI in October 1953.

-- Dan McKeel 3/13/13 Tuesday 10:30 AM CDT

Daniel W. Mckeel, Jr., MD
GSI SEC-00105 co-pettioner _



GSI stolen Ra-226 plumb bob

The GSI Stolen Radium-226 Plumb Bob Radiation Incident

Yuerday October 27, 1953 st Year P i
Talks Against Reds Reds: head | Now York Honore 6 Gen, Dean [rio Agrees to Build

Room on Triglois' House

. General Steel Industries (GS!) site expert John W. Ramspott has discovered more

conclusive evidence about the date and circumstances of the “GSI stolen plumb bob incident.”
. He and GSI SEC co-petitioner Daniel W. McKeel, Jr., M.D., wish to make several
additional points about this discrete and better defined overexposure to one of two GS! 500 mCi
Ra--226 sources that were first described in NRC FOIA 2010-0012 obtained by Dan McKeel.
The new information was provided, through McKeel's efforts, to the Board, SC&A and NIOSH
soon after the 1,016 pages of NRC FOIA unredacted material was released.

. The stolen plumb bob incident was known about through former GSI worker testimony
during four GSI worker outreach meetings in 2006-2007. Transcripts and minutes of those
meetings are posted on the DCAS website (www.cdc.gow/niosh/ocas).

. Radium-226 “Plumb Bobs” and the fishpole technique for nondestructive radiographic
inspection (NDT) of metal castings and welds were well described and known to the Board and
SC&A (see Anigstein 2009 SC&A review of portable GSI! sources). These applications are
described on the ORAU Museum website. It was also known that the AEC banned the use of
Ra-226 in the early 1960s throughout the U.S.A because the practice was too dangerous.

. However, radium-226 source bounding dose estimates were not made by NIOSH until
the after emergence of the NRC FOIA 2010-0012 materials. This delay of years is difficult to
understand because “plumb bob” fishpole NDT radiography had become synonymous
specifically with radium-226 source radiography decades ago.

. The banner above and the accompanying article on page 1 of the Edwardsville (IL)
Intelligencer newspaper, 91st year, No. 293, 8 pages, dated October 27, 1953, establishes that
a radium source was “lost” at the GSI plant in Granite City, IL. GSI management believed the
source was in the plant, while others believed the radium was off-site and possibly was stolen.
United Press indicates the GSI plumb bob radium source had been missing for about a week.
. Ramspott and McKeel believe the doses received by GSI plant workers cannot be

plausibly bounded with sufficient accuracy because of the “fuzzy” details that are not known.
Those factors include where in the plant the Radium source was first used and where it was

taken, who took it and what was their job, and the way the radium source was handled, or

mishandled, after it was removed from its normal location. That location is also not known.

-4-


GSI stolen Ra-226 plumb bob

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