Study to Examine A-Arms Test Workers

Were workers exposed to health risks when the nation carried out nuclear weapons tests in the Nevada desert?

Public health workers at Boston University hope to come up with the answer in a $2.8-million medical evaluation program funded by the Energy Department.

Health workers will be studying the effects of work-related exposures during nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

A total of 928 nuclear weapons tests were conducted above and below ground at the remote site from January 1951 to October 1992, when a test moratorium was initiated.

More than 10,000 workers were employed at the test site at the height of the testing program.

Dr. Lewis Pepper of the university’s School of Public Health said he expects to complete the first phase of the program in about a year.

UC San Francisco and the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council also will help in the survey.

The first phase will identify former underground and excavation workers and others who might be at high risk of developing diseases related to their work.

The second phase, if approved by Congress, would begin surveillance and screening programs for affected workers.

Two limited Energy Department projects now monitor former workers exposed to hazards where health risks are well known.