Work at those sites posed a host of other risks, from food being irradiated because it was transported in polluted rail cars to contaminated metal being sold for scrap. The use of commercial rail cars and trucks to transport highly radioactive material between contracting sites was a constant source of problems. N.Y. The company rolled uranium and thorium metal into rods. We are requesting, therefore, that you do not use railroad cars destined to be used for edibles.
Reference is made specifically to the use of grain cars.
Truckers and rail workers also were exposed to high levels of radioactivity as a result of the nuclear weapons program's shipments of contaminated materials between contracting sites. Records show that railroad personnel and drivers for private trucking outfits often were exposed to contaminated material, in some cases when it had been mislabeled to skirt federal shipping regulations. They often acted with little knowledge of the risks. Steel mills would switch from extruding radioactive uranium and thorium to manufacturing saw blades or other products. There was no tracking of what ultimately became of the material.