Some former workers at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown may be retested for possible exposure to beryllium.
Beryllium is a metal used in manufacturing nuclear weapons and has been known to cause lung disease.
The product was used by the Atomic Energy Commission's production Line 1 at IAAP from the late 1940s until the mid-'70s when the AEC's operations were taken over by the Energy Department. IAAP's nuclear production then was moved to the Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas. About 1,000 people worked on Line 1 at any given time during that period, and the testing agency has at least 350 former IAAP workers enrolled. The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in January took blood samples from 64 former IAAP workers. The institute is a Department of Energy organization to review worker health and education activities.