그랜드캐년 박물관 방사능노출 - Grand Canyon

그랜드캐년 박물관 방사능노출 18년간 아무도 몰라

미국 동료들 단체카톡방에 그랜드캐년 박물관 방사능노출 관련 애기가 나왔습니다. 2000년 부터 2018년 6월18일까지 그랜드캐년 박물관 창고에 방치되어 있었다고 합니다.

문제는 우라늄이 담긴 양동이가 2018년 3월 직원 아들이 최초 발견했음으도 불구하고 3개월간 방치되었고 또한,  이 양동이를 공원관리 직원들이 정원용 장갑만 착용하고 옮겼다는것도 문제로 대두되고 있습니다.

우라늄은 그랜드캐년 우라늄 그랜드캐니언에서 자연적으로 발생하고 있는데, 이번에 발견된 우라늄은 오펀광산에서 나온 것으로 알려져 있습니다. 그 양은 5갤런짜리 양동이 3개의 분량입니다. 이 우라늄은 인근 로스트 오르판(Lost Orphan) 광산으로 옮겨져 처리되었습니다. 

이 우라늄은 천연우라늄으로 고농축 우라늄이 아니라서 박물관을 방문한 사람들에게 피폭의 위험은 거의 없을거라고 조지아 공대 원자력 및 방사능공학부 애나 에릭슨 부교수는 말합니다. 

하지만, 이곳에서 상주하며 근무했던 공원관계자는 어떨런지...  걱정입니다.

Uranium ore stored at the Grand Canyon National Park museum may have exposed visitors and workers to elevated levels of radiation^[각주:1], according to the park's safety, health and wellness manager.

Elston Stephenson told CNN that he began asking officials from the National Park Service and Department of the Interior last summer to warn workers and tourists they had possibly been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation. After his requests were ignored, he said he sent an email to all park staff at the Grand Canyon on February 4.

"If you were in the Museum Collections Building (bldg 2C) between the year 2000 and June 18, 2018, you were 'exposed' to uranium by OSHA's definition," said the email, which Stephenson provided to CNN.

"Please understand, this doesn't mean that you're somehow contaminate^[각주:2]d, or that you are going to have health issues. It merely^[각주:3] means essentially^[각주:4] that there was uranium on the site and you were in its presence^[각주:5]. ... And by law we are supposed to tell you."

The National Park Service is investigating^[각주:6] what happened and working with the Occupational ^[각주:7]Safety and Health Administration and the Arizona Department of Health Services, according to the Department of the Interior, which oversee^[각주:8]s the park service.

"Uranium naturally occurs in the rocks of Grand Canyon National Park. A recent survey of the Grand Canyon National Park's museum collection facility found radiation levels at 'background' levels -- the amount always present in the environment -- and below levels of concern for public health and safety. There is no current risk to the public or Park employees," the department said in a statement provided to CNN. 

"The museum collection facility is open and employee work routines have continued as normal," Emily Davis, spokeswoman for the Grand Canyon National Park, said in a statement. "The NPS takes public and employee safety and the response to allegations^[각주:9] seriously. We will share additional information about this matter as the investigation continues."

Stephenson told CNN that in early June he found out about three 5-gallon buckets of uranium ore that had been stored next to a taxidermy^[각주:10] exhibit at the park's museum for nearly two decade^[각주:11]s. He said he immediately contacted a park service radiation specialist to report the danger.

According to a report from a park service radiation safety officer who responded to Stephenson's request on June 14, 2018, testing results were positive for radioactivity above background levels near the buckets, but elsewhere the radiation levels were not elevated.

Still, according to the report, the park service decided to remove the buckets on June 18 and dispose of the contents in the nearby Lost Orphan uranium mine, where the ore had come from.

Workers reportedly wore gardening gloves and used mop handles to lift buckets of uranium.

Stephenson told CNN that park service workers were inadequately prepared to handle the radioactive material, moving the buckets wearing gardening gloves purchased at a general store, and using mop handles to lift the buckets into pickups for transport.

Stephenson said that after trying and failing for months to get National Park Service officials to inform employees and the public about the possible uranium exposure, he filed a complaint with OSHA in November.

The next day, Stephenson said, OSHA sent inspectors in protective suits to check the museum and found that park service workers brought the buckets back to the park facility after dumping the uranium ore.

"OSHA has an open investigation on the issue that was initiated on November 28," OSHA spokesman Leo Kay said in statement to CNN, declining to comment further on an active investigation.

Staff for US Rep. Tom O'Halleran, D-Arizona, met with Stephenson in December, according to Cody Uhing, the congressman's communications director. 

The Department of the Interior's Office of the Inspector General confirmed Tuesday that it had received a letter from O'Halleran and that it would review it

Anna Erickson, associate professor of nuclear and radiological engineering at Georgia Tech, said the uranium exposure at the museum is unlikely to have been hazardous ^[각주:12]to visitors.

"Uranium ore contains natural (unenriched) uranium which emits relatively low amounts of radiation," Erickson said. "Given the extremely low reading (zero above background) 5 feet away from the bucket, I'm skeptical ^[각주:13]there could be any health hazards associated with visiting the exhibit."

Stephenson told CNN that tours of schoolchildren often walked by the buckets at the museum, but his larger concern was for park employees and high school interns working near the uranium every day.

"A safe workplace really is a human right," he said.

CNN's Katia Hetter contributed to this report.

[출처 CNN뉴스 / 2019년 2월 20일]

1. radiation [ˌreɪdiˈeɪʃn] 1.방사능 2.(열.에너지 등의) 복사 3. 방사능 치료 [본문으로]
2. contaminate[kənˈtæmɪneɪt] 1. 오염시키다 [본문으로]
3. merely [ˈmɪrli] : 한낱, 그저, 단지 [본문으로]
4. essentially [ɪˈsenʃəli] : 근본적으로 [본문으로]
5. presence [ˈprezns] : 1. (특정한 곳에) 있음, 존재(함) 2. (특정상황을 처리하기 위해) 주둔하는 사람 3. 영혼 4. 풍채,풍모 [본문으로]
6. investigate [ɪnˈvestɪɡeɪt] 1.수사하다, 살피다 2.조사하다. 3.연구하다 [본문으로]
7. occupational [ˌa:kjuˈpeɪʃənl] 1. 직업의, 직업과 관련된 * 명사앞에서만 사용 [본문으로]
8. oversee [ˌoʊvərˈsiː] (직업,활동이제대로 이뤄지는지) 감독하다. [본문으로]
9. allegation [ˌæləˈɡeɪʃn] (증거없이 누가 부정한 일을 했다는) 혐의,주장 [본문으로]
10. taxidermy [ˈtæksɪdɜːrmi] 박제술 [본문으로]
11. decade [ˈdekeɪd] 10[십]년 [본문으로]
12. hazardous [ˈhæzədəs] (특히 건강,안전에) 위험한 [본문으로]
13. skeptical [sképtikəl] 1.의심많은, 회의적인 2. 무신론적인 [본문으로]