BOULDER — Sloppy safety systems and poor response were to blame in the recent leaking of potentially deadly plutonium at the federal National Institute of Standards and Technology lab in Boulder, according to newly released documents from investigators.
Mishandling of a cracked vial of plutonium by a researcher visiting from India led to the spill June 9, the experts found.
They also found a culture at the lab that disregarded safety, and some members of the investigative team suggested that radioactive materials be removed from the lab and that similar research be done elsewhere.
“In general, I would not characterize this incident as an accident,” said Lester Slaback, one of the experts, a retired supervisory health physicist with 21 years of experience at the lab.
“It was the inevitable (or at least highly likely) and foreseeable end result” of deficiencies at the lab, Slaback said.
Christopher Sanchez and Bruce Finley, The Denver Post
