Workers Exposed to Radiation at Sealed Nuclear Weapons Facility

Workers looking for toxic chemicals were exposed to radiation when they drilled into a sealed building in an area of Loring Air Force Base where nuclear weapons were once stored, officials said Friday.

Base officials said there was “absolutely no danger” to people outside of the site.

The 11 workers were given sponge baths and examined before they were released from a hospital Thursday. Doctors found no immediate health problems, said 2nd Lt. Bridget Reeder, a base spokeswoman.

In a statement, base officials said the incident involved “detectable levels of alpha radiation.”

Reeder and state officials said it was unclear whether the radiation came from naturally occurring radon gas or from sources associated with nuclear weapons.

“At this point, we’re not really sure,” said W. Clough Toppan, manager of the radiological health program in the state Bureau of Health.

Experts from Brooks Air Force Base in Texas were sent to Loring, in northern Maine, to verify the source of the radiation, Reeder said.

Toppan said alpha particle radiation can be dangerous, but it travels only short distances in the air and cannot penetrate skin. Alpha particles can attach to dust and other particles, however, and can pose a “very dangerous inhalation hazard,” he said.

The military and civilian workers who were contaminated had been searching for traces of toxic PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, as part of a base cleanup.

Building 260, where the radiation was found, has thick concrete walls and its entrance was covered with brick many years ago, Reeder said. The workers bored a hole into the building and discovered the radioactivity when they inserted a Geiger counter, she said.