U.S. Will Settle Suit on A-Plant Contamination

The Energy Department on Friday agreed to pay at least $73 million to Ohio residents who claimed that they were hurt by contamination from the Fernald nuclear weapons plant, a senior official said.

Henson Moore, deputy secretary, said terms of the settlement of a lawsuit by the group, which originally sought $300 million, were approved by Energy Secretary James D. Watkins.

Moore said some of the claims reflected “hysteria” but there would have been no lawsuit had the department done its job right.

U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel in Cincinnati scheduled an Aug. 23 hearing on the agreement, which called for the government to pay a minimum of $73 million.

Businesses Included

Louise Roselle, one of the attorneys who represented the plant’s neighbors, said the terms make room for an additional $5-million payment to nearby businesses if they can show lost property value.

If the judge approves the settlement, the government must deposit the money into four Cincinnati banks no later than Oct. 15, she said.

Moore, in an interview at department headquarters, said he and Watkins were determined to bring the nuclear weapons complex, 17 major plants and laboratories in 12 states, into compliance with state and federal environmental laws to avoid future lawsuits.

Watkins earlier this week blamed his own department for disarray in the weapons program, saying key managers and supervisors lacked technical skills and that some lacked the necessary discipline for safe operation of nuclear reactors.

Charges Detailed

In the lawsuit, residents near the Feed Materials Production Center at Fernald, about 18 miles northwest of Cincinnati, said radioactive contamination polluted their soil, air and water, causing them mental stress and reducing the value of their property.

The center, which does little work today, was a foundry casting components of weapons and reactor fuel assemblies.

Moore said he sympathized with the public’s concerns about possible illegal pollution from nuclear weapons plants, but he expressed doubt about the Fernald claims.

“A lot of that is hysteria,” he said. “There really wasn’t, judging by what I heard . . . a lot of hard evidence of anybody losing anything--as a matter of fact, almost none.”

He said he believed the settlement, if made final, would be the first of its kind.