17 employees exposed to radiation at Idaho nuclear lab

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Seventeen employees at the Idaho National Laboratory were exposed to radiation Tuesday afternoon from plutonium during a routine operation at a decommissioned reactor, officials at the lab said.

The employees were taken to a medical facility at the lab for observation, though the exposure was said to be low-level.

The lab said the public was not in danger and no release of radiation had occurred outside the facility.

The sprawing federal facility conducts a wide range of research, but the facility where the incident occured conducts work on civilian nuclear energy.

Plutonium is not highly radioactive, but inhaling or ingesting the material can cause chronic exposure and has been linked to elevated risk of cancer.

The lab could not say whether the employees were exposed to a flash of radiation or to airborne material. The exposure occurred when employees opened a container that had the plutonium inside. Sara Prentice, a spokeswoman, said it was not known what the employees were doing inside the reactor building, but she described it as a routine operation.

The incident is being managed by laboratory leaders and officials from the Energy Department’s Idaho office, she said.

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--Ralph Vartabedian