The Office of Human Radiation Experiments

February 16, 2006 6:01 PM

The Office of Human Radiation Experiments, established in March 1994, leads the Department of Energy's efforts to tell the agency's Cold War story of radiation research using human subjects. We have undertaken an intensive effort to identify and catalog relevant historical documents from DOE's 3.2 million cubic feet of records scattered across the country. Internet access to these resources is a key part of making DOE more open and responsive to the American public.
posted by Dome-O-Rama (7 comments total)

DOE Openness? Jesus.
posted by 327.ca at 6:26 PM on February 16, 2006

Since you're just quoting off the front page, you should really put it in quotation marks, otherwise people will think you are selflinking.
posted by delmoi at 6:39 PM on February 16, 2006

i'm actually afraid to read that...someone tell me if NYC's been dosed, ever.
posted by amberglow at 7:59 PM on February 16, 2006

These people are great. I worked with them in 1995 for a film about Human Radiation Experiments which I directed for Channel 4 in the UK and they were incredibly open and helpful. They could not have been less defensive.

Their main archive was in Las Vegas at the time. I turned up on National Rodeo Finals weekend with a bunch of hispanic cowboys. The only hotel I could find was a Western-themed casino. It was quite a scene.

All that openness a long while ago now... cough...
posted by unSane at 8:35 PM on February 16, 2006

So, they closed the access after the 9/11/2001 attacks and ...
posted by hank at 8:56 PM on February 16, 2006

Was that hotel The frontier? Oh dear god that's such a dive now.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 5:34 AM on February 17, 2006

Although the cleanup site at Rocky Flats was closed at the end of 2005, a jury verdict on a 16 year old class-action contamination lawsuit was reached this week — U.S. facing $553.9 million payout for plutonium leaks:

DENVER — With a half-billion-dollar verdict hanging over its head, the Department of Energy was reviewing legal options Wednesday after a jury ruled that two DOE contractors allowed plutonium from the Rocky Flats weapons plant to contaminate nearby land.

A federal jury on Tuesday decided Dow Chemical and the former Rockwell International damaged land around the now-defunct plant through negligence that exposed thousands of property owners to plutonium and increased their risk of health problems.

Jurors awarded the plaintiffs $553.9 million in damages. The government already is facing an estimated $58 million in legal fees for the contractors.

State and federal laws likely will limit any verdict payout to $352 million, attorneys said, but taxpayers may have to foot the bill because the two companies' contracts called for the federal government to indemnify them.

The verdict will be appealed, but should taxpayers hope that it's overturned?
posted by cenoxo at 10:17 AM on February 17, 2006