Radioactive Dust

New York, NY: (Feb-08-08) Over 300 people filed claims against Atlantic Richfield Co., alleging that pollution from a nuclear fuel processing plant damaged nearby residents' property and caused cancer and other illnesses. Sources stated that the suit was filed over the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., or NUMEC, which processed uranium and plutonium for nuclear submarines and other purposes at a plant in Apollo and another in neighboring Parks Township, about 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The plaintiffs asserted that they inhaled white radioactive dust for three decades and those microscopic particles of uranium from the plant caused an unusually high cancer rate. Records show that a doctor testified that 351 of Apollo's 1,895 residents, or nearly one in five, had been diagnosed with some form of cancer.

Sources close to the case stated that the company that bought both plants in 1967 and sold them to Babcock & Wilcox Co. in 1971, agreed to resolve all claims with a $27.5 million settlement. Legal counsel claimed that the lawsuits were divided in three categories, property damage, personal injury and wrongful death. Personal injury and wrongful death claims under the proposed settlement were mostly settled with a six-figure payout, while property damage claims would be $10,000 or less. [CNN NEWS: RADIOACTIVE DUST]

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Published on Feb-11-08