This Los Angeles Times article explores many sites connected to nuclear weapons production during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War, including Oak Ridge National Lab. In the section on Oak Ridge, residents and medical professionals from the area share their experiences of living and working near the site. The article also discusses what is and is not yet known about exposures, contamination, and health impacts.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Residents and Workers
“[Oncologist William K.] Reid joined the local hospital staff in 1990, and ‘right away I was dealing with five kidney cancers,’ he says. ‘I wouldn’t expect to see more than one in a population this size.’ Medical literature and consultations with outside specialists led Reid to suspect that radiation and other pollution from Oak Ridge facilities contributed to the illnesses he was treating—high rates of thyroid disease, immune disorders and cancers. (All of the kidney cancer patients were workers who had been exposed to radiation, he recalls.) But Reid says that every effort he made to raise concerns and conduct research in the hospital on Oak Ridge radiation and health was blocked.”
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